630 to 640 miles plus in the last 24 hours! The Orange warhead is charging to the edge of the Antarctic Convergence zone. On board, the shifts continue as on the first day, with the right dose of pleasure derived from finally giving the counters a jolt. The attack is on. The elements are cooperative, and the maxi catamaran isn’t hesitating to keep the speedometer at nearly 30 knots for hours. Everything is going as well as it can in the most desolate place on Earth, despite the threat of a tropical depression hanging over the hooded sailors. The secret is in the speed: staying at the current flow of the ridge, and fighting the depression with speed. Orange has the means; Orange is giving it all she’s got: 37.8 knots during the day’s radio session.
Bruno Peyron, on a day marked by very great speeds, refuses to let his head swell. “We’ve been saying it since our entrance to the South; when the conditions are gathered – wind angle and strength, sea strength and state – Orange will accelerate, without excesses and without swaying from our watchword: preserving men and equipment.”
