With two, soon to be three, contenders at sea in their latest round the world record attempts, the question is can, and if so by how much, can the record be broken?
Orange’s 2002 record of 64days 8hours 37minutes and 24 seconds is going to take some beating. Although Peyron’s maxi cat was very quick on some stages, she slowed down a lot on others and had Geronimo last year continued her storming progress on the last lap north up the Atlantic that record would have fallen by several days. An interesting exercise is to take the fastest times recorded on each of the legs in previous attempts and see what the total is.
The legs are: Ushant to the equator (Geronimo) Ushant to Cape of Good Hope (Geronimo) Cape of Good Hope to Cape Leuwin (Sport-Elec) Cape Leuwin to Cape Horn (Orange) Cape Horn to the equator (Orange) Equator to Ushant (Orange)
The total? 60 days 8 hours 3 minutes. It’s going to be a close call, assuming that any of them make it round without mishap.