Pivotal Day for Maxi-Catamaran Orange

by Pierrick Garenne / Mer & Média on 14 Mar 2002 Anticyclones are usually synonymous with
nice weather... and nice weather is usually
synonymous with a lack of wind... This means
that the maxi-catamaran Orange is 'on a diet'
today and is making steady progress weaving
between squalls. As expected, Bruno Peyron
and his men are sliding along to the west of
the Saint Helena high whose centre is less
than 300 miles away to the ESE. 'We've got
two difficult days ahead of us' said Bruno
during the chat session. 'Our average is going
to fall, but that's what we're expecting. After tomorrow, we should be picking up
some fairly strong winds that will enable us to get back to our south-east heading
again'. And whilst everyone is chafing at the bit waiting for the 20/25 knot winds,
each one is taking advantage to check over his part of the boat before entering the
Southern Ocean and its famous merry-go-round of repetitive lows.



'We've got about 13 knots of wind and we're currently weaving between squalls' said
Philippe Péché during today's radio chat. 'We're under medium gennaker and full main and
we're avoiding taking the boat through the squalls so that she won't suffer and to save us
multiple sail changes'. Indeed, as expected for several days now, the maxi-catamaran
Orange is sailing along the edge of the Saint Helena high. The centre is not far away, less
than 300 miles, and they are trying to cope with the lines of squalls and the wind variations,
both in strength and in direction. 'We're juggling between sail trimming and slight changes
of helm but we're following the heading we fixed ourselves, that's to say 200°. We're
continuing to skirt the Saint Helena high that is extending westward' confirmed Gilles
Chiorri, the navigator. 'But normally from tomorrow evening, we should be able to head east
and find more honourable averages!' More honourable averages perhaps, knowing that at
today's (Wednesday 13th March) 1200 position report, Orange was all the same credited
with a very respectable 426 miles at an average of 17.79 knots...
And whilst these two 'pivotal days', dixit Bruno Peyron, are a compulsory passage, each
member of the crew is taking advantage to check over the parts they are responsible for.
'We have 48 hours ahead of us before finding windier conditions again, so we're taking
advantage to very carefully check every part of the boat' said the skipper. 'Florent (Chastel)
has been up the mast more than a dozen times already and Yves (Le Blevec) is checking
over all the structural parts of the boat, that's to say the inside and outside of the hulls, the
forward compartments and the beams... The boat must be in impeccable condition for her
entry into the Southern Ocean and we must use these two calmer days to do it'.

The Southern Ocean, on everyone's mind...

D-2 days before really getting down to business, that's to say a 20/25 knot wind that will
propel the maxi-catamaran Orange onto that great motorway of following winds in the
Southern Ocean... 'Of course the boys are asking questions' said Philippe Péché, the
Cape Horner. 'They want to know if it's cold, if it snows... But that's normal, some of them
are entering a world that is both totally unknown to them but so attractive'. 'One eye on the
instruments, one ear for the discussions... One subject crops up regularly, discreetlyƒ
writes Jean-Baptiste Epron in an e-mail today. 'With modesty and without wanting to give it
too much importance, those who don't know the South (like me) have been trying to glean a
little information. No doubt to be better prepared, no doubt to try and anticipate what we
don't know and no doubt for minimising our fears...'... The South always causes a little
apprehension and anxiety in both those who don't know it and those who do in fact'
prompted Bruno Peyron. 'But it is also very humiliating faced with this immensity, we're just
a tiny dot, almost nothing at all. And you should never forget that!'

Quote / unquote...

Philippe Péché: 'Last year in The Race, we had a fairly easy Southern Ocean and we had
no really strong breezes. The strongest we had was 57 knots of wind, I think...'. (editorial
note: no comments...)