Orange II, Bruno Peyron’s 120ft maxi catamaran, was re-launched yesterday afternoon following her pit stop to repair her damaged starboard crashbox and could set off later today. See previous news story here. Bruno Peyron and Roger Nilson (navigator) have indicated they could set off sometime between today and Thursday. Commenting on the pending Jules Verne start, Peyron said: “I sincerely wish to congratulate all the teams that have reacted so promptly, worked day and night in order to get the boat back on the track on such short notice. This race against time will hopefully allow us to take another start with the best schedule possible. We’re doing everything to have the boat ready to leave Lorient today, in order to catch a weather window, which will be open from today until Thursday. No changes on board as far as the crew’s concerned, everybody signed their name on the list once more!”

The current situation is that Orange II should leave the dock at the Défi Français base in Lorient late this afternoon and head for the Jules Verne Trophy starting line. If all goes to plan team Orange are anticipating a start between 06:00 and 12:00 French time tomorrow morning.