Sea, Sail & Surf news
Photo : JP Epron / Maxi Catamaran OrangeJules Verne Trophy
Peyron : "we’re savouring the delivrance !"
Beating one’s way into the forties
lundi 18 mars 2002 –
Beating one’s way into the forties, the breeding ground of great lows was rather surprising even abnormal... And even if one must "remain Zen" as Bruno Peyron wrote in his daily e-mail yesterday morning, we could imagine through the sound of the voices of those interviewed today, the smiles on their faces at the speed of the spray flying in their faces ! 25 knots of wind from the north-west, a crossed swell but becoming organised from the south-west : the indications are there and the South as described by the mariners in adventure books is not far off... "Yesterday was a day of recompense after the sort of horror we’ve been through these last few days," said a relieved Bruno. "The boat is passing well, we’re under full main and big gennaker or single reefed main and small gennaker. We’re on a good track with a heading of 110° and we’re making for the southernmost tip of Africa on a fairly northerly route". And while yesterday the maxi-catamaran Orange was sailing to the west of Sport Elec’s (the current holder of the Jules Verne Trophy) wake, she crossed over her track last night and is now to the east of her route.
"There is in fact a low pressure zone to the south generating very powerful winds," explained Gilles Chiorri, "and we don’t particularly want to rub shoulders with it. To the north there isn’t enough wind and in any case it’s not our route. We’re exactly in the sort of winds we want, that’s to say 25 knots from the north-west that should strengthen by day’s end or tonight. We’ve no interest in getting mixed up with winds that are too strong. We should be favouring winds of around 30 knots which suit our boat best". The only regret in Gilles’ voice : "We passed 20 miles to the north of Tristan da Cunha and we didn’t even see anything... The last land we saw was the south-west point of Madeira. The next will probably be Prince Edward 2171 miles away today...".
But before reaching that, the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope is less than 1500 miles distant. A mythical longitude that will signal the first of the great capes to be left to port (left). Then will come Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn... And while Sport Elec passed the southern tip of Africa after 22 days at sea, the Ushant / Cape of Good Hope record Record #sailingrecord set by Enza (Sir Peter Blake) still holds in a "furious" 19 days and 17 hours... Will the maxi-catamaran Orange be able to beat this time ? The bets are on !
Quote / unquote...
Bruno Peyron : "There’s some strange goings on in this low down world : we’ve only been able to sail in corridors of wind since the start of this Jules Verne, we’ve got flying fish with albatrosses and in a water at 20° and up until yesterday we’ve been beating to enter the land of the Southern Forties !"
Gilles Chiorri : "It took us 30 seconds this morning to take a reef. This shows once again that the crew is in perfect training and it really did us good to take it out of the coffee grinders ! It’s a deliverance for a boat this size picking up these north-westerly winds !"
Yann Eliès : "Yesterday was quite an incredible day. The sea was at 21°, there were flying fish, albatrosses and petrels.. Having all those together is quite rare and I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again !"
Pierrick Garenne / Mer & Media / Orange
Map : Geronimo vs Orange
Dans la même rubrique
Jules Verne Trophy : Orange is keeping up a good average
Jules Verne Trophy : Orange on the way to the roring forties
Jules Verne Trophy : One high hides antoher
Jules Verne Trophy : Orange in low wind
Photo : JP Epron / Maxi Catamaran Orange
