Bruno Peyron’s 110ft maxi catamaran Orange II is in the starting blocks for an attempt on the west-east transatlantic record. Peyron and 11 crew are in New York waiting for a weather window, which they believe might open up sometime in the next 72 hours.

Weather experts Roger Badham and Pierre Lasnier will give the final thumbs up to an an attempt between Ambrose Light and the Lizard. The record currently belongs to Steve Fossett, who set it in PlayStation in PlayStation in October 2001 with a time of 4 days, 17 hours, 28 minutes and 6 seconds – a scorching average speed of 25.8 knots.

“We cannot turn down this challenge, even if we are probably placing the bar too high with only a week on stand-by in New York,” comments Peyron, adding that he will also be attempting to beat the 24 hour record “and getting close to covering 700 miles.”