ORANGE in July 2002 in 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds

Description

On March 2, 2002, the day Orange set sail on the Jules Verne Trophy circuit, nothing suggested a comfortable victory. The twelve men—Gilles Chiorri, Hervé Jan, Nick Moloney, Yann Eliès, Benoît Briand, Sébastien Josse, Roan Le Goff, Jean-Baptiste Epron, Florent Chastel, Vladimir Dzaldalyndis, Yves Le Blevec, Philippe Péché, and Bruno Peyron—were worried. They had already been through a rough patch. The masthead of their maxi catamaran had broken after thirty minutes of sailing on February 14, during their first start. Orange had just spent twelve days in Vannes, under the expert care of the Multiplast shipyard, which provided a rapid repair. Orange, 33 meters long, was the former Innovation Explorer, already victorious on a course similar to that of the Jules Verne Trophy. In 2001, he guided Loïck Peyron to second place in The Race, the round-the-world race created by his older brother. But on board, even though they had confidence in the boat, everyone knew all too well that it would need to be handled with care. As it crossed the starting line off Brest, sailing at 20 knots in a northeasterly wind, in a choppy sea, the thirteen crew members of Orange all kept a close eye on the masthead. The thirteen crew members of Orange had set off worried about the masthead; they returned concerned about its base… But it was a virtually undamaged boat that crossed the finish line of the Jules Verne Trophy on May 5th, at 4:13:45 PM. For 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes, and 24 seconds, Bruno Peyron and his crew never wavered. At an average speed of 18.15 knots, they set a new record time for the Ushant-Ushant route via the three great capes, a distance of 28,035 nautical miles (52,000 km). They beat Olivier de Kersauson's previous record by 7 days, 5 hours, 44 minutes, and 44 seconds.