Orange has picked up a slight shift to the east in the trades, which has enabled her to gain more speed to the west. Bruno Peyron and his 12 men are now on a direct heading for the Cape Verde islands which they must leave to port.

The next objective is the Doldrums, which the maxi-catamaran Orange ought to tackle in less than two days, but the team is already getting prepared.

Gilles Chiorri, captain’s mate, watch leader and navigator on board explained: “Yes, we’ve had this little shift in the trades to the east enabling us to luff up a bit but also to put more westing in. This is allowing us to steer a direct heading towards 25 degrees longitude west, where the entrance gate to the Doldrums we want to take lies.”

And while this little shift that Bruno Peyron was waiting for on Tuesday has materialised, it has enabled them to score some nice average speeds and distance covered. At 1300 yesterday, the maxi-catamaran Orange had covered 519.26 miles at an average speed of 21.64 knots over the last 24 hours. “This slight wind shift has also enabled us to hand the large gennaker and send up the reacher. So we’re pointing higher and gaining speed!” Information easily confirmed when at the 1000 position report an “insolent” instant speed of 31.3 knots was recorded. “I think that the record currently belongs to Hervé Jan’s Breton watch,” said Gilles. “What are we supposed to do now? Take three points off his licence or give him three. As it’s going well, we’ll congratulate him!”