Sea, Sail & Surf newsJules Verne Trophy
Orange goes East…
mardi 16 avril 2002 –
The rounding of Cape Horn is a nice symbol. But as Peyron emphasised, it does not mean in any way the end of the Southern Ocean and its complicated weather patterns. With the Falklands barely astern, Orange is going to have to cope with an Atlantic almost as complex as last month when Peyron and his men were looking for the gateway to the Southern Ocean. This time it’s the South American coast that is being inhospitable. With its 960 hPa, the low that appeared off Buenos Aires is rushing across the immensity of the ocean. It’s a question of heading to the east to avoid the 60 / 65 knots announced on its eastern edge, the maxi-catamaran from Marseilles is observing with some surprise the combined moving away to the SE of the centre of high pressure to the north of Tristan da Cunha. The hope of being able to latch onto a southerly flow generated by its eastern edge is getting more distant. Gilles Chiorri and Bruno Peyron are doing overtime at the chart table. On deck, they’ve returned to the initial, well oiled since the Ushant start, watch system. With reefed main and masthead gennaker, Orange is storming along in the realm of the albatross, still propelled by a strong south-westerly. The rest of the day will be trickier. Once on port tack the wind will have started to slacken, while gently becoming westerly, then north-westerly. Then watching the barometer will briefly replace watching the met’ charts and Orange is going to have to face what she likes least : beating to windward, but well sheltered by the high pressure. The objective ; to avoid the calms. A little consolation however : each mile gained to the north takes them closer to the direct route, while the temperatures start to become milder, and the perspective of a nice shower in finally warmer climbs is appearing on the horizon for a crew which entered the rigours of the "land of darkness" almost a month ago.
Quote / unquote
Bruno Peyron : "The sea is a little difficult to negotiate today, a little side-on to the boat. It’s difficult to find the right sail combination. No salvation for us to the west. This is why we’re prolonging this long tack towards South Africa. We’re giving a lot of thought to our next track to find an escape route from this high that moved very quickly in the night."
Bruno Peyron, in duplex with Serge Madec : "Our objective is simple, bring home the Jules Verne Trophy which is a yachtsman’s ultimate challenge. And secondly, we’re accumulating a lot of ideas and information with an eye to The Race 2004. With Steve Fossett’s PlayStation still chasing records, and "Maiden Two", the former Club Med of Tracy Edwards currently attempting the record Record #sailingrecord between Cadiz and San Salvador, we can see that The Race 2004 is already on the ways."
Gilles Chiorri : "I promised to take a shower as soon as we arrived in the Atlantic ; I have not kept my word. It’s still too cold and the weather equation we’re having to solve is not simple. We’ll soon be crossing our outward route about 200 miles to the west of Tristan da Cunha. The boat is still in great shape. The mainsail that now has 1 - circumnavigations to its credit is impeccable, just a little deformed in its centre..."
Denis van den Brink / Mer & Média Translation David Palmer - SeaSpeak
Dans la même rubrique
East - West Atlantic record : Maiden II is 240 nm late from Club Med
Jules Verne Trophy : Orange credited with an average speed of 23.05
South Atlantic Record : This is why we do it ! for Maiden
TROPHEE JULES VERNE : Orange is indeed pretty close in to the eats coast of the Falkland Islands
