Bruno Peyron and his crew on the maxi catamaran Orange left again on Saturday morning for their second stab at the Jules Verne Trophy. They crossed the line less than 24 hours after their repaired mast had been restepped.

A narrow corridor of north-easterly winds opened up for them, hence the rush, and within the first 24 hours they had covered 500 miles and were off the coast of Portugal. Daily runs of this order now seem to be workaday speeds for these boats, yet Bruno Peyron confirmed that his crew had not yet been pushing hard. Their motto at the moment is ‘better safe than sorry’, he said, and the crew need to have their confidence in the boat restored.

The favourable winds are expected to continue for the next two or three days, and Peyon’s crew have set their sights on breaking ENZA’s time to the Equator, of 7 days, 4 hours.