Oceanracing 2004 -Jules Verne Trophy 2004 - Orange II(B.Peyron)

Jules Verne Trophy - Orange II - Geronimo - Cheyenne
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Thursday 1 April 2004 - 1710 GMT
Day 54-1/2: Heading NorthEast and Aiming For Home
234 miles past 12 hours (avg 19.5 kts)

4-1/2 days ahead of Orange I's 2002 position
Target Arrival - Monday 5 April

1832 miles SW of Ouessant, France: Another excellent day of running N and now NE covering 234 miles (at an average speed of 19.5 kts) has left skipper Steve Fossett and his crew aboard the 125' maxi-catamaran Cheyenne only 1832 miles from their Round The World record attempt destination - the official finish line at Ouessant, France. They remain some 4-1/2 days ahead of the 2002 RTW record position of Orange I.

There are excellent weather prospects for the coming 4 days and Cheyenne and crew are still hoping to maintain a high average speed and reach the Ouessant-Lizard record line on Monday, April 5th.

Navigator Adrienne Cahalan on the weather to carry them home: "Overnight we have seen the wind change from a signature trade wind ENE to a lifting ESE - which enables us to turn the corner NE and point at the finish. We are lined up now between a low pressure system to our west at 28N 45W and a high pressure located to the our east near 27N 30W.

Our intention once we are into SE winds at the leading edge of the front (which is happening right now) is to turn NE and head toward the finish line." (see story below for Adrienne's complete report)

3 weeks behind Cheyenne, the 114' French trimaran Geronimo under the hand of former RTW record-holder (from 1997) Olivier de Kersauson continued their crossing of the Pacific on their own 2004 RTW attempt, reporting tonight that they had been able to push again deeper to the South after a move North earlier in the week to escape horrendous early winter conditions. At 15:18 GMT today, 35 days 16 hrs from the start, they were approx 800 miles ahead of Orange I's 2002 pace, but 1195 miles behind the 2004 position of Steve Fossett and Cheyenne at the same time.

We watch their progress with great interest.
Brian Thompson - Days 53-54 Flying Fish For Dinner for www.brianthompsonsailing.com "A great days sailing out here as the wind continues to veer around towards the east and the seas start to flatten off. We are freed up now to start heading more northwards and picking up speed. We have full main and solent up now, in preference to the one reef and staysail that has propelled us cautiously through the windiest section of the NE Trades.

We are past the Cape Verde Islands now well to our SE, and we are heading far outside the Canaries. The next island group we will pass close by will be the Azores, in 2 or 3 days time.

Over the last few watches Moose has been constructing a pin to fit inside the original hollow pin that is barely holding the front beam to the starboard bow. He has made it out of pieces of batten covered in a carbon tube, which was moulded from the outside of food containers. This morning he successfully fitted it, with help from Fraser and Justin. We now have a fraction more strength in the current set up and a good safety backup in case the original pin does break. Moose's pin should keep the beam on the hull long enough to get the sails down if necessary. Hopefully we will not need it, as the upwind section of the trip should be over now, and this puts the most stress on the pin. Already the wind has shifted to the beam and by tomorrow night we should be sailing downwind. If we are fast and lucky this downwind sailing should continue to the finish. If not, there will be a little more upwind for the last section. Currently the weather forecasts are looking really good; you could not dream of a better set up. If they come true we just need to keep the boat going without any breakages, and we will have a good finish.

Last night was another good night, with the bonus of seeing the pole star, polaris, for the first time. It was almost on the bow, and a great reference to steer by. High above us, the moon was illuminating the boat brilliantly for most of the night, and will guide us in all the way to the finish now, getting bigger night by night. This moonlight did not help the flying fish who must have bad night vision. It was looking like a fish market and at dawn I threw out at least 20 from the leeward cockpit, and apparently the watches before also spent time clearing out the scuppers.

I saved a couple of the biggest ones for Nick to photograph, and on receiving them he proceeded to get out his knife and cut them up. I thought it might be out of scientific curiosity, but when the pressure cooker and tabasco sauce came out, it became clear he had suspicious culinary motives. In fact, I had some of the results, and they were delicious. It made a great change from the freeze dried food of the last 53 days.

Dave's eye patch is still in place but he is up on watch and steering again, in mono this time. Dave is the ship's doctor and he would normally treat any injured, so Steve is looking after him. There is improvement which is good news.

The highlight of the day was passing close to a cruising boat which was sailing steadily downwind towards the Caribbean, mainsail out on one side and genoa poled out on the other. It was about 40 foot in length and we flashed by about 50 metres in front of it, on a perpendicular course. We did not want to go close astern because they might have had fishing lines out, but it was right on our course so we did want to have a good look at it. A fellow sailing yacht is a lot rarer and more interesting sight to us than a cargo ship.

As we got close we could see there was nobody on deck, so Justin shouted over as we passed at 25 knots of boatspeed. Immediately a man flew up from the hatch, grabbed the lifeline and for a second stared in disbelief and surprise. Then he waved, we waved back, and then another man came out of the hatch. Within a minute they were far behind us, rolling gently downwind.

It made our day, and we hope that we gave them a thrill to break the routine of their Atlantic crossing. We hope they have a good trip over, and make up some good recipes for the flying fish that they will be finding over the next 20 mornings, before they reach the Caribbean.
Brian"

Steve Fossett writes (1 April) on the precise routing plan for the finish: "Our strategy is to get on the leading edge of a Low pressure system during the day today. At the leading edge, the sea state is low which means small waves permitting maximum boat speeds. Too close to the Low and there are rain squalls and shifting winds which would really slow our boat speeds. This is a small Low and a narrow band of wind which we must stay within in order to achieve 500 mile days towards the finish.
If we can stay with this Low as it moves Northeast, our estimated finish time is between noon and 6 pm on Monday, April 5. If we fall out of this narrow band, we'll still get there but about a day later.
Steve Fossett Skipper"