Bruno Peyron and his 12 crew sailed the 110ft catamaran Orange across the Trophée Jules Verne finish line last night, carving more than a week off the non-stop round the world record. They crossed the line at Ushant at 1600GMT, setting a new record of 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds.

The crew of Orange have been intermittently nursing their boat during the last week after the 12cm titanium bearing on which the rotating wingmast sits cracked. Their last few days were mixed. With favourable winds they were able to reel off a 566-mile day before running into lighter airs that stalled them off the coast of France.

Then, late yesterday afternoon the winds freshened and they sped over the finishing line in the afternoon at 19 knots, to beat Olivier de Kersauson’s previous time by the substantial margin of 7 days, 5 hours, 44 minutes and 44 seconds.

Peyron sailed a relatively conservative race, knowing that he didn’t need to push the boat as hard as the boat and her two sisterships had been during The Race to beat the record. Even by comparison, though, this is a fast time. The direct course from Ushant to Ushant is 28,035 miles, but Orange sailed much more than this to avoid headseas in the Indian Ocean and the North Atlantic.

The Pacific was the fastest part of their circumnavigation, and Peyron and his navigator Gilles Chiorri were able to position the boat between the warm and cold fronts of much steadier lows to clock up some high daily averages of over 550 miles.

As well as setting a new round the world record, the crew of Orange broke seven other intermediate records:

Ushant to the Cape of Good Hope: 18 days, 18 hours and 40 minutes

Ushant to Cape Leeuwin (Australia): 29 days, 7 hours and 22 minutes

Cape Leeuwin to Cape Horn: 12 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes

Ushant to Cape Horn: 42 days, 2 hours and 52 minutes

Ushant to the Equator: 53 days, 4 hours and 49 minutes

The Equator to Ushant: 11 days, 03 hours and 48 minutes

Cape Horn to Ushant: 22 days, 05 hours and 45 minutes.