Category: Big Beachcats

Orange II crossed the finish line at "The Lizard" Thursday evening July 6, 9:24pm local time (4:24pm ET).Bruno Peyron and his eleven men of crew completed the crossing in 4 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes and 54 seconds with average speed over 27 knots Orange II beats the previous record by 9 hours, 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Bruno Peyron said.. "The feeling? It is a major joy… There are great smiles on tired faces… ".

Monday 3rd July 2006. - Bruno Peyron's crew covered 752 miles on their first day! No sailboat has ever been so fast until now. Having set out at 11h00'06 GMT on Sunday from New York to attempt to snatch the incredible Atlantic record from Steve Fossett (4 days, 17 hours 28 minutes and 6 seconds), Bruno Peyron's crew has already achieved something on this voyage. Orange II has just demolished their own 24-hour sailing record by covering 752 miles in one day. This is already something that will enter the history books and it may just be the start. At a mind-blowing average speed of 31.3 knots, the maxi catamaran is ahead of where PlayStation was on the charts. No sailboat has ever sailed more quickly over 24h...

Living up to her good habits, Orange II is sailing much faster than the wind. Setting out from New York, Bruno Peyron's crew have already accomplished one historic victory: at 11h 06 GMT today (Monday) the maxi catamaran setting out to conquer the Atlantic record had already clocked up a monumental distance on the log: 752 miles covered in 24 hours: a new outright speed record for a sailboat over one day. An average speed of almost 31.3 knots, obviously reaching peaks in excess of 35 knots.

Sunday, July 2, 2006 - Bruno Peyron announced this morning that he would be crossing the starting line at around 11h GMT, and it was at 11h 00 mins and 06 secs precisely that the Orange II maxi-catamaran set sail off New York on her latest attempt at the crewed Atlantic record. 12 men on board to tackle this legendary record, which has been held since October 2001 by the American skipper Steve Fossett on board his maxi-catamaran PlayStation. Bruno and his men got off to a fine start as after hardly an hour after crossing the starting line the machine was already advancing at more than 30 knots. Fair wind to them.

Already racing full speed ahead - Bruno announced before the start that there would be no hesitation in pushing his machine to her limits. The tone was set in the first few minutes of racing, as the giant, which is almost 38 metres long was already sailing to the south of Long Island with an average speed of 32 knots being clocked up. The weather conditions are what they were expecting with a 25 to 28 knot north westerly, and Orange II set sail under the mainsail with one reef, the medium gennaker and the staysail.

Finishing before Friday at 4h30 GMT... To smash the Atlantic record, Peyron and his men will have to finish within 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 06 seconds. They will therefore have to cross the finishing line off The Lizard at the southwestern tip of England before Friday 7th July at 04h, 28mins and 12 secs GMT.

Atlantic record attempt
Friday 30th June 2006
Press release N°9

This time they're off! After studying the latest weather charts during the night and talking it over once more with his weather unit, the skipper of the Orange II maxi-catamaran set off early this morning the long awaited green code alert. The start itself for Orange II on her latest attempt at the North Atlantic crewed record will take place on Sunday, in a time slot somewhere between 12h and 18h GMT. The crew is already flying and should be reaching the giant in Newport during the evening.

Everyone in the plane…en route for Newport !
It was at 8 o'clock this morning that Bruno Peyron and half of the crew of Orange II boarded a flight going from Paris to New York. Early this afternoon, the rest of the team followed suit. The aim is to get to Newport this evening in order to finish off the boat's preparation. They intend to cast off tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon to head for the starting line, which is located 150 miles north of New York, or around ten hours sailing, which explains why the pressure is on, as far as the schedule is concerned.

June 13, 2006- Great festival of speed
The Bol d'Or Rolex has always attracted the most extreme boats, each attempting to make the best of the typically light, but fickle conditions found on Lake Geneva.

The 40 or so multihulls competing in this year's Bol d'Or Rolex, are mainly catamarans. The Décision 35s (or D35s) are now universally admired for their state of the art design and high tech carbon fibre construction. They are the fastest boats on the lake and with owners such as Ernesto Bertarelli, the man behind Switzerland's successful challenge on the last America's Cup and famous skippers such as Alain Gautier and Loïck Peyron, they are also the most high profile. Winner of last weekend's Genève-Rolle-Genève'race, Peyron is returning to try to defend Bol d'Or Rolex title after his victory last year on Nicholas Grange's Okalys. For the D35s, the Bol d'Or Rolex also forms part of their championship for the Julius Baer Cup.

Another smaller class of high speed one design catamaran really booming in Switzerland is the M2. This class originates from the former F class multihull, the rule being reworked, adapted and simplified to make boats that are attractive, fast and spectacular, while remaining within a tight budget. This formula seems to be highly successful: on the start line of the Bol d'Or Rolex last year were 20 examples and of these eight were new. This year 29 M2s are entered. Of these 19 are the latest breed of Ventilo M2.