Orange II shatters PlayStation's Transatlantic Sailing Record

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July 7, 2006 Of all the ocean sailing records, the Atlantic crossing is without doubt the most famous and most sought after. In 2001, legendary American adventurer Steve Fossett sailed across the Atlantic in PlayStation faster than anyone else in 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 06 seconds. Today, Frenchman Bruno Peyron and his Orange II crew smashed Fossett's record aboard the maxi catamaran Orange II, finishing the course from Ambrose Light near New York City to Lizard Point off the southwestern tip of Great Britain in just 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds - more than 9 hours faster than Fossett. Halfway through the 3,100 nautical mile trip, Orange II hit a submerged iceberg and broke one of its two steering rudders.

The team had to slow down considerably to keep from capsizing but managed to maintain a boat speed average of over 28 knots. Peyron and his veteran team already hold numerous sailing records including the fastest ‘round-the-world time. And on this trip, they broke their own 24-hour world speed record twice -- making Orange II the fastest sailboat in the world. Our report on Orange II and its preparations for this event in depth can be found here.

Orange II crossed the finishing line at The Lizard this evening at 19h24 GMT. Setting out from New York on Sunday, Bruno Peyron and his maxi catamaran with eleven crewmen crossed the North Atlantic in 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds at an average speed above 27 knots via the theoretical route. The Orange II Dream Team improved on the record set by Steve Fossett’s PlayStation by 9 hours 4 minutes and 12 seconds, a record that was said to be unbeatable. Here are some of Bruno Peyron’s first reactions a few seconds after he crossed the finish:

Your first feeling?

« It’s immense joy...There are smiles on all the tired faces. It’s only normal as we have given it our all and sometimes in life doing your utmost is a good thing. We’re focused on what is happening at the moment. For me, that makes three Jules Verne Trophies and three Atlantic records. What I like too is the way it happened. Things went exactly as planned. The whole crew reacted just right and at the right moment. We hit a bit of ice. I think at least that that was what it was. But we reacted correctly. The boat is “wounded” but in one piece and safe, so we can be proud of our work. It all feels a bit strange. It’s as if we only set out from New York yesterday.

Was it a very exhausting record?

It’s a physical record that requires commitment. There weren’t many of us here. We chose to go with a total of twelve in two watches, so automatically that takes a lot of effort. But it’s a pleasant tiredness. On the circumnavigation, it’s rather different, as you have to manage things over a longer period. This time we were in the plane on the eve of setting sail and jet lag or not, we set sail immediately. Moreover we hoped we wouldn’t have too many manoeuvres to do, but we ended up doing twenty or so. We did them with the whole crew out on deck, even at 35 knots in the middle of the night in the mist, of course. When the watch “on rest” is woken up twice, it is certainly tiring.

The damage to the rudder?

We lost between 6 an 8 hours with this incident with the rudder, but really it’s not that serious, even if we know we could do better and the boat deserved better. But I’ll say it again, it doesn’t really matter. It gives our friends and enemies a bit of a chance to try and beat us… and it will give us another chance to come back and try again, even if it wasn’t deliberate.

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