BRUNO PEYRON ON STAND-BY TO ATTEMPT THE ROUND BRITAIN
AND IRELAND RECORD
The maxi-cat Orange arrived in Cowes
on the Isle of Wight yesterday evening at 7.00 pm, just in
time to take part in the fantastic fireworks display which
closed the Skandia Life Cowes Regatta Week. After a 10 day
long delivery between Marseilles and Cowes, Orange, the fastest
Round the World sailing boat, is now going to attempt the
Round Britain and Ireland Record. This record is held by American
Steve Fossett since 1994 on-board his 60 foot trimaran Lakota
(formerly Pierre 1er of Florence Arthaud) in 5 days, 21 hours,
5 minutes and 27 seconds, with an average speed of 12.67 knots.
Only a few days away from this new record
attempt, Orange and its new crew await fair weather predicted
for Monday or Tuesday. Skipper Bruno Peyron shares his feelings
about the record attempt : "Our objectives for coming
to the UK were to attempt several British sailing records,
with the Round the British Isles as the primary goal. However,
due to unfavourable weather conditions the Round Britain and
Ireland Record remains the only possible attempt, and this
in spite of current weather predictions. We plan to attack
the record at the beginning of the week regardless of the
uncertain weather conditions. The boat is in pristine condition
and manned by a talented international crew of 13, composed
of 5 different nationalities (French, English, Irish, Swedish
and Australian). I have invited Neal McDonald to co-skipper
with me for the British record attempt following his outstanding
showing in the Volvo Race aboard the second place finisher.
Neal and I have already navigated together (with Grant Dalton)
aboard Club Med when we set the new East to West Atlantic
Record, between Cadix and San Salvador. I know that the Round
Britain and Ireland Record holds great importance in Anglo
Saxon sailing, so we Intend to establish a time worthy of
future challenge from giant maxi-cats the likes of PlayStation,
Maiden II, KingFisher II and Géronimo. As we speak
our plans are to sail sometime between Monday and Tuesday
morning."
- ends -
Notes to Editors
Orange and wirefree are trademarks of
Orange. Orange is one of Europe's largest mobile operators,
with operations in 22 countries across Europe and beyond,
and aims to have a presence in markets covering 1.5 billion
people worldwide by 2005. As at the end of June 2002, Orange
had over 12.8 million customers in the UK, 18.6million in
France and approximately 41.4 million controlled customers
worldwide. Orange provides a broad range of personal communications
services, including Orange GSM1800 services and other digital
cellular telephone services.
Information about Orange can be found on the Orange website
at www.orange.com
For more information please call the
Orange media centre on +44 207 984 2000 or +44 7973 201 911
The Round Britain & Ireland Record
attempt can be followed by visiting
www.orange.co.uk/sailing for updates, crew emails and audio
from on board Orange.
Radio broadcasts will take place each
day at 0800 and 1700 (UK time) and once
the maxi-catamaran has set off. You are invited to attend
these broadcasts and be given the opportunity to put your
questions to the crew.
Listen and download Bruno Peyron Interview
by a click on the following link :
http://www.greendesign25.co.uk/audio/peyron_fr_0908.mp3
For further information and copyright
free images contact:
Jane O'Donnell, Karen Earl Sponsorship Mob: +44 (0) 7711 781030
janeo@karen-earl.co.uk
For copyright free tv images contact:
Richard Simmonds, APP: Tel +44 (0) 7768 866371
rsimmonds@appbroadcast.com
