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1 May 2002, 10:05 am

Expecting to Finish Early Next Week

photo:Martin-Raget

Jules Verne Trophy

520 miles at an average of 21.66 knots over the last 24 hours at 1000 this morning: needless to say that the maxi-catamaran Orange is making the most of this trade wind that is pushing them along at a crisp pace towards the Azores high.

The Marseilles Giant was plotted today 700 mils to the SW of the Portuguese islands or less than 2000 miles from Ushant. The next 24 hours will be under strict surveillance because the boat should be progressively entering the zone of influence of the mass of warm air stationed over the Azores before picking up the cooler north-westerly air generated by the lows that are marching across the North Atlantic. From then on it will be a tremendous downwind schuss towards Ushant and on one single tack!

"If we can rely on all the weather patterns, we'll be finishing on Sunday or Monday" declared skipper Bruno Peyron. "But we could get slowed down, and then we'll be finishing on Tuesday. Or, at the other end of the scale, if we accelerated suddenly, it could be Saturday..." So as you will no doubt have understood, the ETA is rather a guess today, it all depends on the time that Bruno Peyron and his men will take to make the transition from the trade winds to the edge of the high.

Orange Press/News Editor