JV DAY 18: MEDIA UPDATE 1600GMT
Absender: "Team Kingfisher"
Datum: 16. Feb 2003 17:56
SUMMARY: 1500 GMT 16.2.03 (position poll received at at 14:37)
Position: 40 38'S 00 22'W
Boat speed: 28.2 knots
Distance to WP5 42 00'S / 18 28'W 490nm south of Cape of Good Hope : 855 nm
(theorectical shortest distance)
KINGFISHER2 headING FOR COVER...WITH BOATSPEED SITTING ON 30+ KNOTS
KINGFISHER2 is hurtling down waves - big waves - and trying to avoid "stuffing" the bows into the wave in front - this is the Southern Ocean... Ellen and the crew have kept a rocketing pace again today since this morning clocking up another 180 miles but they are having to make ground north - and fast. The new low forming behind them is packed with strong winds and waves. KINGFISHER2 needs to get north to avoid the worst of this new low: "The tactic is to try to make it safe," said Meeno this afternoon. "They should get to 39 south minimum to avoid the strong winds from the NW and the big swell from the WSW which will make the sea state pretty rough and confused." The art of riding the lows pressure systems is to ride them to the north, close enough to get good breeze, but not so close that storm conditions put you in to survival mode rather than speed mode...as the low passes over the wind will switch from north west, to west, then south west as the low departs...these giant cats are capable of sustaining speeds that mean they can stay with the same low for a thousand miles or more...
KINGFISHER2 will cross longitude 0 degrees today taking her into the east in terms of longitude (next time they cross back into the west, KINGFISHER2 will have completed just over half the voyage). To better Orange's time from Ushant to Cape of Good Hope KINGFISHER2 will have to cross longitude 018 28'E before 01:28 GMT on Tuesday (18.2.03) and with approximately 855 miles to go, it is within their potential.
LATEST FROM ELLEN IN BRIEF CALL TO MISSION CONTROL:
"Been an exhausting 36 hours...I didn't sleep between 5 yesterday morning and this afternoon... I don't remember even talking on the phone this morning when we spoke. Right now things are pretty full on, we're doing 31 knots as I'm speaking, 32, 33...35.6...! Our speed over the ground is consistently in the high 20s. My big worry is whether we gybed too late this morning or not, we're now sailing heated up at 135 degrees true wind angle, which is why we are so fast, trying to get north to position ourselves to avoid the worst of the big storm coming up behind.
Unfortunately, it means we have to sail high to be safer to the north, and then dive back south again in 48 hours time..."
LATEST EXCERPT FROM CREW EMAIL (see full crew news on home page at http://www.teamkingfisher.com)
KEVIN MCMEEL: We are moving at times in the high 20s and occasionally hitting 30 plus knots, but cannot keep up with a system that travels at such speed. Fortunately for us, it is predicted that this low will deepen or strengthen and expand. This expansion will occur faster than the 40 knots that it is moving away. We are thus hoping to capitalize on the southerly wind by keeping up to the backside of this expanding low. It means that we are experiencing all of Hendo's "hallmarks of speed" - reaching in these boats is wet, cold and uncomfortable, but it is very fast...
JV DAY 18: BIG SEAS OVERNIGHT & SOME DIY SKILLS REQUIRED...
Absender: "Team Kingfisher"
Datum: 16. Feb 2003 11:20
SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 16.2.03
Position: 41 22' S 04 15' W
Ahead/Behind the record: 7 hours 53 minutes behind Orange (using WP5)
Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 72 hours 21 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP6)
DAY 17 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 507 nm, Orange 532 nm, Geronimo 470 nm
End DAY 17 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 18547 nm, Orange 18421 nm, Geronimo 17390 nm
Boat speed in last hour: 22.1 knots heading: 091
Distance to WP5 42 00'S / 18 28'E 490nm south of Cape of Good Hope: 1016 nm (theorectical shortest distance)
IN BRIEF:
* KINGFISHER2 indexTAINED AVERAGE SPEEDS OF OVER 20 KNOTS for much of the past 24 hours in gale force winds and a difficult 6 to 7 metre sea, recording another 500+ mile day. Just a couple of hundred miles from the longitude 0 where KINGFISHER2 will cross into the east (when they cross back into the west they will have raced just over halfway) and 1000 miles to the longitude 018 28'E of the Cape of Good Hope...
* DIY SKILLS IN ACTION AGAIN as Ellen manages to isolate the wiring problem in the instrument system and resurrect the all important wind information that the helmsmen rely on - in particularly in the "full on" conditions KINGFISHER2 has been sailing in. It took a process of elimination throughout the day, assisted by the shore team and B&G's David Minords...finally the offending wire connection was found, corroded completely by the salt water environment at the base of the mast. After 2 hours in a tiny little carbon compartment that only Ellen could fit in, with a screwdriver, wire clippers and a lot of patience (it might be easy if the boat was still, but...) she's up and running again.
* "YESTERDAY WE WENT DOWN THE MINE for the first time in this voyage. 'Beautiful,' said Neal as the bows dug in"... Read Andrew's incredible account of what its like sailing at speed and close to the edge in full below or at http://www.teamkingfisher.com posted on the home page or click on crew portrait icon for today's full story...
* SOUTHERN OCEAN SAILING, THE ULTIMATE TRIP: "If you came and did this for a day you would go home with a grin from ear to ear. But the Southern Ocean doesn't deliver day trips...." reports Andrew on the mix of adrenalin rush and discomfort as he takes another soaking....
* FORECAST IS FOR LIGHTENING WINDS during today, followed by intensifying conditions as the next low approaches - shore-based weather router, Meeno must help KINGFISHER2 position herself for this next system, get it right and you have the perfect ride, get it wrong and....
* NOT ALL GOING TO PLAN FOR GERONIMO as ice and an unfavourable wind direction (westerly meaning they have to gybe and not sail a direct course) has forced them north as they follow a similar track to Orange. The further north, the further you sail around the bottom of the globe. An additional concern is the violent storm that pounded them south of Australia is catching them up again... http://www.grandsrecords.com
Listen to Ellen's latest audio this morning... Visit http://www.teamkingfisher.com and click on the 'Audio' icon on the menu bar or download from http://www.ocftp.com/audio/em160203a_uk.mp3
Kingfisher operating company of the day CASTORAMA: Castorama is France's leading home improvement retailer with 203 stores* in 6 countries. (*Figures as at 2.2.2002)
http://www.castorama.fr
ELLEN PHONECALL 0500GMT: communications by BT [broadband users check out video and other high speed content at http://kingfisher.sportal.com]
"The sea state is about 5-6 meters, we have the spinnaker up and 3 reefs in the index. The seas have been quite crossed and were much, much worse earlier so now still quite nasty but boat is sailing pretty nicely with the kite. Bit of an issue about 36 hours ago - sailing along and we noticed something a bit funny with the wind angle whereby when we gybed it wasn't reading the correct angle. So we played around and had a look to try and work out what is wrong. Eventually we discovered there was a corroded plug at the base of the mast - we had decided to tackle the problem by checking each connection stage by stage and finally found the damaged plug, nearly the last one left, and we hard-wired it back into the system.
"Conditions right now - sea flatter, sailing along at 20+ knots in a 35 knot breeze. It is forecast to get lighter for the rest of today then deteriorate in about 42 hours when another depression - a small low but with very, very strong breeze - will arrive. Will have to make a call on how deep we sail with the new low, and how far north we go before this new low arrives. Sea state is going to be big and the wind angle in front not fantastic so may have to shoot up north to deal with that one..."
JARGON BUSTER : GOING DOWN THE MINE
"Going down the mine" is an expression to describe when the giant catamaran accelerates down a big wave so fast that she catches up the wave in front. Twenty-two tonnes of boat travelling at 30+ knots sails straight in to a wall of water....the boat decelerates very quickly sending crew lurching forward (this is why they sleep feet first in their bunks), putting massive strain on every bit of gear as the loads shoot up, and potentially cartwheeling the 110 foot boat - first the rudders come out, all the sails are eased, and then you just hope she’ll pop out of the wave in one piece (boat and crew)!
LATEST CREW NEWS FROM ANDREW PREECE - THE FULL STORY:
Yesterday we went 'down the mine' for the first time in this voyage. "Beautiful" said Neal as the bows and front beam stuffed into the wave ahead and the boat speed dropped from the mid-20s to under 10 knots. "The first of many," he enthused. Ellen was not so happy - she had been mixing a drink in the galley and it catapulted all over Nigel.
There was a different tone in Neal's voice as he took over for his watch at 2000 last night. The way he was talking non-stop and enthusing about the conditions, I could tell the adrenalin was running. The boat had been pummelling along at 30 knots all afternoon, the wind was building and night was coming. "Take a look at that sun," he said. "It might be the last time you see it for a month."
And by today our world had changed. We were chasing down a low pressure that was pumping 60 knots in its centre. The waves were forecast to build to 10 metres and as we got closer to the low, the wind swung ahead and it started to get rocky. All night the crack of the waves slamming into the beam where it joins the port (leeward) hull sounded like gunfire. And The Hilton (port hull) and the Best Western (starboard hull) appeared to be in a race to beat each other south, the boat wracking and writhing under the twisting force of every wave. Sleep was nearly impossible.
It was made all the more impossible when Hendo pitched us in in the middle of a moonlit night. I had left the deck about half an hour before after we put in the second reef as the wind built to 35 knots. I was revelling in the comfort of a sleeping bag that was, for the time being, dry. Hendo punched it in mildly the first time, the only effect being a slip down the bunk and foot contact with the bulkhead, a mildly pleasant experience that told of the pace we were pushing up on deck. The second time was different. The front beam put the bow in, the boat lurched to a standstill and for a second I was standing on the bulkhead flexing my muscles to prevent myself from folding up; over in the starboard hull I learned the same stuffing had bowled Hervé over on his way to talk to Ellen.
Over in the starboard hull I thought the incident was over. WRONG! As the bow pitched in, a wall of water hurled itself aft and filled the port cockpit. About ten seconds later there was a cascade down the dorade vent and straight into the open mouth of my sleeping bag! A gallon or so drenched me and the bag and seeped under the bag and onto the mattress soaking the whole bunk. It was a moment where I had to fight very hard to contain my emotions which would, if I had let them, ranged from rage to despondency to overwhelming self-pity. But one can't afford to let emotions like that surface when we have three or four weeks of this stuff ahead of us. I reeled myself in, took off my soaking thermal top and set about trying to avoid the wet bit in the hope that I would get back to sleep and dry it out with my body heat.
I don't know what it is about this trip. First I was soaked when the media station hatch flew open and a cascade of water forced its way aboard. And now this: I'm on my third pair of socks from four and we have hardly scratched the surface of discomfort.
But enough about me. What about the Jules Verne record? Well, we have had a couple of storming days and have made ground on both Orange and Geronimo. The view on the boat is that the shape of every record attempt will be different and if we were to read too much into the fact that we are behind now on such a mammoth voyage we would be making a grave error. Geronimo is suffering now at the end of the Southern Ocean and approaching Cape Horn, we had a tough time last week but are rocking now. Ellen worked out that if we can do the Southern Ocean on an average of two knots faster than Geronimo then we will be level pegging at The Horn. Two knots sounds a lot but Geronimo had a dream first section but has not blazed a similar trail across the Southern Ocean. We have a chance and we hope we will be in a position to take it. Certainly the next few days will be high octane as we indextain contact with the low ahead of us until tomorrow and then swap horses John Wayne-style to a low that is coming up behind us that we could ride for sometime. This is wet, bumpy and painful progress but it is certainly quick. As Hendo says, 'this is what we all signed up for. We've got to grunt up and show we can handle it.' The waves are up to around six metres in height, the bows swoop low as we pummel down the wave face. If you came and did this for a day you would go home with a grin from ear to ear. But the Southern Ocean doesn't deliver day trips.
Andrew
Media & Comms
JULES VERNE USHANT (START) TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TIMES:
2003 Geronimo (de Kersauson) 16 days 14 hours 35 minutes 21 seconds
2002 Orange (Peyron) 18 days 18 hours 40 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 01:28GMT Tuesday 18.2.03
1997 Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 21 days 18 hours 17 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 01:05GMT Friday 21.2.03
1994 ENZA (Blake/Knox-Johnston) 19 days 17 hours 53 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 0041GMT Wednesday 19.2.03
1993 Commodore Explorer (Peyron) 21 days 12 hours 48 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 19:36 Thursday 20.2.03
OMEGA official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2'S Jules Verne record attempt
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY B&G: B&G are the official marine electronics supplier to Team Kingfisher and have worked with the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team who for a number of years have provided invaluable feedback on the performance of the B&G pilots and instruments. This unique partnership and test platform is integral to the evolution of electronic systems. Development at this level ensures that the market gets the most robust, reliable and accurate solutions in the world.
http://www.teamkingfisher.com/b&g
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