Betreff: JV DAY 21: MEDIA UPDATE 1600GMT
Absender: "Team Kingfisher"
Empfänger:
Datum: 19. Feb 2003 17:02
SUMMARY: 1500 GMT 19.2.03 (position taken at 15:54GMT)
Position: 45 25'S 30 32'E (approx 820 nm SE of coast of South Africa / 316 nm from Prince Edward Islands)
Boat speed: 17.1 knots
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 1650 nm (theorectical shortest distance)
LIGHTER AIRS TONIGHT...
KINGFISHER2's speed has slowed as a corridor of lighter airs sits in front of them forcing Ellen and the crew to take a southerly route until tomorrow when the breeze provided by a new low will fill in from the west. Going south is not a bad option as they try to sail the shortest distance possible but gaining ground east tonight will be harder. Once KINGFISHER2 passes through the convergence zone, "The high pressure zone system builds up a pefect gradient with a north-westerly airflow," said Meeno Schrader. "The high stationed mid Indian Ocean is very well established but this will force the lows from the west to move into the south-east."
KINGFISHER2 continues to indextain a much more southerly route than that of Orange on day 21 and it is looking more likely that KINGFISHER2 will pass to the south of the Prince Edwards Islands approximately 316 miles to the east. Beyond these islands are the Kerguelan Islands - a well-known landmark to all round-the-world sailors.
LATEST EXCERPTS FROM CREW NEWS (see http://www.teamkingfisher.com for full crew news)
ANDREW PREECE: But as we have begun to sail east - we are now nearly 2500 miles east of our westernmost position coming down the South Atlantic - dawn has been arriving earlier and earlier each day and sunset has been earlier too. Obviously, since we are sailing into the Southern Hemisphere summer, the days are getting longer (when we left Plymouth it was dark by around 1800 GMT and not light until 0730 GMT) but we are also sailing out of the GMT time zone - right now we are at 20 degrees East and it is getting light by 0400 GMT and dark by 1800 GMT...
JV DAY 21: KINGFISHER2 HITS MYSTERY OBJECT IN NIGHT BUT NECK & NECK WITH ORANGE PACE ...
Absender: "Team Kingfisher"
Datum: 19. Feb 2003 09:48
SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 19.2.03
Position: 44 38'S 27 28'E
Ahead/Behind the record: 0 hours 30 minutes behind Orange (using WP6)
Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 50 hours 25 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP6)
DAY 20 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 463 nm, Orange 500 nm, Geronimo 415 nm
End DAY 20 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 17107 nm, Orange 17099 nm, Geronimo 16301 nm
Boat speed: 20.1 knots
Course: 097
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 1776 nm (theorectical shortest distance)
IN BRIEF:
* KINGFISHER2 HITS SUBMERGED OBJECT AT HIGH SPEED...Ellen..."during the night suddenly there was a load bang, and the boat shuddered...we had hit something with the starboard rudder. We slowed the boat down to check, and we've a little repair to do on the fixings but it appears not to be a major problem, thankfully...we don't know what it was but hitting any object at speed is always a concern"...
* NO MAJOR DAMAGE BUT HEART-STOPPING MOMENT...Neal McDonald on deck at the time added: "First thoughts are, you could be sinking here...a major concern but we ascertained that we weren't and then checked the whole boat for damage...in retrospect we were very lucky..."
* KINGFISHER2 NECK AND NECK WITH ORANGE pace only 30 minutes behind which equates to just 8 miles and pulling back to nearly 2 days behind Geronimo...
* KINGFISHER2 CROSSED THE LONGITUDE OF CAPE OF GOOD HOPE yesterday morning at 0918 GMT taking 19 days 2 hours from the start to the point of longitude below South Africa... The notorious Cape Horn is 10,000 miles to the east - further than KINGFISHER2 has sailed to date - with Cape Leeuwin (SW tip of Australia) in between...
* AFTER FIVE FULL ON DAYS of crazy Southern Ocean surfing, conditions onboard KINGFISHER2 are decidedly calmer this morning...but it was expected, and therefore little stress aboard. Speed this morning has reindexed close to record pace...
* WEATHER TRANSITION : ELLEN and Meeno studying hard as ever...."We have a northerly breeze of about 20 knots, and we're hoping to hold this for next 12 hours as we traverse the convergence zone between the high pressure and low pressure system...the other side of this we're expecting very strong north westerlies..."
* TIME SHIFTS ON BOARD FOR THE CREW as GMT becomes meaningless as KINGFISHER2 starts to cross the longitudes from west to east at speed... "We will shift the time zone we operate on the boat for the first of several times. If we didn't shift our time, eventually we would be eating breakfast as it gets dark and dinner as it gets light..." Andrew Preece (read full crew news at http://www.teamkingfisher.com on the home page or click on the crew portrait icon to read today's news plus news since the start)
* GERONIMO FORCED TO SAIL FURTHER distance due to staying in the north after concerns about icebergs reindex in the minds of the crew... http://www.grandsrecords.com
Listen to NEAL McDONALD's latest audio this morning... Visit http://www.dailysail.com or download at http://www.thedailysail.com/ISM/articles.nsf/Interview/494879BF4F9F68AC80256CD1001E8CB2?OpenDocument&Page=1
Kingfisher operating company of the day RÉNO DÉPOT : Réno-Dépot is a Canadian retailer of home improvement products.
http://www.renodepot.com
NEAL MCDONALD AUDIO: communications by BT (broadband users check out video and other high speed content at http://kingfisher.sportal.com)
"We were probably going around 24 knots when we hit something - first thoughts were that it would take only a very small article to rip the boat open. Clearly, major concern, you could be siking here and secondary thought is that this isn't going to do our record attempt any good either way... First few seconds, your major concern is that we could be sinking - you hear the bang and you know that the force of the water along could tear a great gash in the hull and that's where your immediate concerns lie. But we are lucky that we have two hulls not just one! First we ascertained that we weren't sinking and then checked for damage (object struck the rudder and some repairs had to be made to the rudder fixings)... In retrospect we were very lucky..."
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY MCMURDO PAINS WESSEX : McMurdo are the official supplier of safety equipment to Team Kingfisher.
http://www.teamkingfisher.com/mcmurdo
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