Bruno Peyron’s 120ft maxi cat, Orange II, will complete her round the world record attempt in less than 24 hours. At 0800 this morning she had just 480 miles to go to the Ushant finish line and is currently heading towards the tip of Brittany at an average speed of 28kts.

The sailing conditions for her last day at sea as she enters the Bay of Biscay are perfect. It’s blowing 30kts and she has two reefs in her mainsail, trinquette and small gennaker. The ETA across the line is later tonight setting a new time of approximately 50 days and 15 hours which means Peyron and his 13-man crew will have improved the record set a year ago by Steve Fossett on Cheyenne by over a week.

Chatting about the crew’s final few hours at sea Peyron said: “You have to savour the last few miles, the last few hours. The daily life on land will soon catch up with us and there’s nothing we can do about it. As a result it would be almost criminal not to make the most of these magic moments that we’re experiencing today. They are all too rare to have the right to miss them.

“When I go up on deck it’s pure pleasure. Everyone is content, happy. It’s so good to see the look in the eyes of all the crew. There is no need for a long speech to understand what is happening between us. In principal, we are 24 hours from the finish. There is a regular 30 knot air flow and the sailing is good. We are gliding along in complete safety. We couldn’t have dreamt of a sweeter note to end on.”