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Orange II on FireFebruary 14 - Southern Ocean  Photo Gilles Martin-Raget With all the press about Ellen MacArthur's tremendous solo circumnavigation, not enough people have been aware of what Bruno Peyron and crew are doing with the maxi cat Orange II to the around-the-world record for crewed boats. They are destroying it in an achievement that - dare we say it? - at this point is right up there with what Ellen did. Since Orange II started 22 days ago, they have averaged 22.7 knots - and thus are four days ahead of the pace set by Steve Fossett's Cheyenne. That's nearly 20% faster than an already tremendous record! Compared with her previous attempts which were canceled because of breakdowns, the boat was completely gone over to make her more reliable. The most important change has been going to bigger rudders. The older ones were two small and made the boat uncontrollable in certain conditions. Now she is said to handle beautifully. As for her crew, they are all 30 to 40 years old. Peyron says younger sailors don't have the necessary experience for a boat such as Orange II, which has hit over 42 knots. When it comes to around-the-world sailing records, we are living in an incredible era. No matter if it's singlehanded monohull, singlehanded multihull, or crewed multihull, the old records are being crushed. |
