12.05.2002
The latest daily news from TEAM KINGFISHER to Dr Krumnacker
Segel.de

Latest news from KINGFISHER in the Regatta Rubicon : LEG ONE

Kingfisher plc, a leading European retailer, is the title Sponsor of
Ellen MacArthur.
Read all the news about Ellen & Team Kingfisher at
http://www.teamkingfisher.com

IN BRIEF
* After a tough few weeks of boat preparation for the team
(thanks guys!), 'Kingfisher' crosses the start line in good shape as the
Vendée veteran Simone Bianchetti (Tiscali) holds the overnight lead in
recently acquired Fastnet record holder 'Whirlpool' (ex-Catherine Chabaud).
Tiscali is the same Lombard hull as SILL...

* Relief from 'Kingfisher's skipper as she feels the wind in her hair
for the first time for many months...but this first night has not been
without technical problems. The quality of the fleet has once again racked
up over the winter with the addition of the Vendée winning boat,
Virbac (ex PRB) skippered by Tour de France winner JP Dick - as well
as significant performance enhancements for Jourdain (SILL) and Wavre
(TEMENOS).

* The tightly packed fleet expect to hit strong headwinds tonight (Sunday),
 as they near Cape Finistere. As 'Bilou' (SILL) noted, "we are pushing hard
  now, but tonight it will be time to be a little wise to get through this
  much talked about storm".

Listen to the latest audio from ELLEN by downloading
In Realplayer http://64.23.31.209/clients/kf/rrem1205a_uk.rm
Or Download in mp3 at http://64.23.31.215/cgi-bin/ftp/1/rrem1205a_uk.mp3
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EMAIL UPDATE FROM ELLEN ONBOARD KINGFISHER

All well onboard although we had a shocker with the daggerboard just after
start and almost lost it out through the bottom of the boat! OK now.
Fixed. Inevitably we have some computer problems after a complete upgrade...
the rule is usually don't upgrade just before a race...but in this case we want
to use the Rubicon to really work all our new systems to get them right
for the Route du Rhum...so a bit of pain to go through!

Everyone onboard is fine, and Kingfisher is not slow - we able to take
height at same speed as most, although Bilou rode over us yesterday evening...
we are hanging in there though, and happy to be out here. Its been a long time.
We lost some miles over night due to a baton problem, we had to lower
the indexsail for some repairs, all ok now & back up to speed

Kingfisher Position
46 08 83N / 03 24 11W
e.

POSITIONS
Positions at 0900 GMT 12/05/2002
Regatta Rubicon map page : http://193.104.87.4/default_mono60.htm

1. TISCALI GLOBAL CHALLENGE : Simone BIANCHETTI, 1133.1 miles to finish
2. BOBST GROUP-ARMOR LUX : Bernard STAMM, 2.5 miles behind leader
5. Sill Plein Fruit : Jourdain, 2.6 miles behind leader
4. KINGFISHER : MacArthur, 6.7 miles behind leader
6. TEMENOS : Dominique WAVRE, 7.7 miles behind leader
3. VIRBAC : Jean Pierre DICK, 22.0 miles behind leader
8. ADECCO-ETOILE HORIZON : Bob ESCOFFIER, 41.7 miles behind leader

LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING

PBO : Kingfisher's rigging was overhauled this winter, changing the metal rod
that holds the mast in place, to a fibre called PBO - supplied by Future
Fibres, with the support of OYS and V1D2, this new rig setup has provided
significant weight saving (particularly valuable for performance when it
is high up).
Two boats in the last Vendée completed the tour with this system, but there
is certainly a new learning curve for Kingfisher in terms of tuning.

Read all the news about Ellen & Team Kingfisher at
http://www.teamkingfisher.com

Official site of the race http://www.regataderubicon.com