At the mercy of the weather

by Orange II media on 11 Mar 2005 Only 100 miles of the route covered over the past 24 hours and Orange II is still suffering on her climb back up the Atlantic.

The only way to get around the high, which is unusually low for the season, is to head off a long, long way from the direct route.

Skipper Bruno Peyron and his dream team are sailing more than 400 miles west of the routes taken last year by their opponents.

Today, the incredible feat of circling the world in 50 days seems less and less likely as the hours slip by.

To achieve this, they have to cross the line before midday on Tuesday 15th March, but now the probable arrival time appears to be sometime on 16th or 17th March.

From Peyron this morning at 04.00 GMT, ‘if we had had the same conditions as Cheyenne after the Horn of Brazil, we would have finished in 48 days (an improvement of ten days over the record).
‘There’s no point in getting in a mood about it.
We’ll get there however long it takes.

‘We’re sailing close-hauled under the solent in a 9-knot north-north easterly. That’s all quite logical, and just as in the books.

‘The high has had the good idea of moving off to the east, and the wind should back around in the next few hours. We will then be able to head further north taking us closer to home, but it’s going to take another day and a half or so for us to get more pressure on the sails.

‘Forecasts vary for the final stretch. Some say the second low that we should be picking up is dying on the spot. So it’s all very touch and go.’