25.06.2004
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WIND SHIFT TO NW ARRIVES AT LAST:
Ellen now sailing at blistering speed along the direct route to the finish, indextaining speeds of over 22 knots for the past few hours. For the first time closing on Bourgnon’s ghost track by an hour [now 23 hours behind].
THE TRANSITION WAS TOUGH TO MANAGE: the eventual gybe was followed by light and variable winds, physically hard sail changes required to indextain speed. Once speed then increased, the stress increased again another notch...”I spent the night worrying in the cuddy, but have decided to go to bed now as I’m not achieving anything on deck...problem now is getting thrown out of my bunk...but if we can hold these speeds we’re on fire...” a slightly jaded voice this morning...
FATIGUE OF PUSHING <> HARD starts to take its toll, but new breeze and great progress this morning keeps Ellen on track! Body indextenance as important as boat indextenance....”forced a huge bowl of cerial and bananas down me this morning...had not really eaten properly since yesterday lunchtime...”
APPROACHING HALF WAY MARK in terms of miles [total 2925 miles] and time [now into day 4]...and the chance of record is still definitely on, but an average speed (on direct route) of 18.77 knots is still a quite extraordinary target! One however, that is currently being met...
PHONE CALL WITH ELLEN 0800 GMT
THIS MORNING’S THUNDERING PACE
“We’re doing 23 - 25 knots straight down the track, 22 knots of breeze, full index and Solent, totally powered up...just waiting for something to break, so just got in my bunk in the end.... Having spent the night cold and worrying about it in cuddy, decided to go to bed as not much I can do! Problem is getting thrown out of my bunk though, the lee cloth not quite doing its job...if we can hold these speeds for a while we’re on fire, and still have a chance on the record.
Hoping breeze doesn’t increase, as I’ll have to take Solent [mid-size headsail] down. Hard to judge when to take it down. If I have to change then the chance of breaking record will diminish...so pushing to the limit! [Alarm going off in background, its a wind alarm set to alert Ellen when wind peaks at maximum for a sail combination to take, in theory]....wind at 24 knots....it would be so easy to ignore the alarm and curl up by the warm generator and go to sleep...am going to try and get some sleep though now and sit like this for a while.
It was a long night again though, great to see the daylight again...
Forced down a huge bowl of ceriel, banana and milk powder this morning. Having not really eaten since yesterday lunchtime...”
ON THE RECORD PACE
Yesterday it looked pretty ***** [average], but things are looking much better this morning.
Speeds are great....23, 23.1., 23.8, 23.7, 22.3...not too hard to break 24 hour record at this pace even without the Gulf Stream. I wouldn’t have thought that possible a few days ago.
STATISTICS AT 0800GMT 25 JUNE
Elapsed time: 3d 9h 50m
Ahead/behind record: -391 miles, 22hr 49min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 1190
Distance to finish: 1665
Position: 38 56 07N; 41 22 31W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 14.51
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 18.70
Current boat speed: 23 knots
Weather conditions: See below
B&Q WILL HAVE TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE BY 00:44:42 GMT ON TUESDAY 29th JUNE 2004 TO SET ANEW RECORD FOR THE FASTEST SOLO SAILOR TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC…
WEATHER BRIEFING: from Commander’s Weather to Ellen 0530utc June 25
Summary
1) The more solid stratocumulus cloud deck is located to your N and NW. You are in the broken to scattered clouds between this solid deck of clouds and the frontal clouds
a) breeze may be a bit unstable for the next 8-12 hrs
2) Regardless, don't see any major changes during the next 18-24 hrs
a) the stronger NW winds have out run us and we will never catch up to
them - no worries, though
b) wind speeds may ease down a few kts after 0600-0800UTC but, may increase a bit again after 1800UTC
c) average wind directions will gradually back except when that surge arrives late afternoon or evening today - wind directions will move a little right with the surge
d) goal is to sail as fast as possible, sail at the finish line when possible and fast, must get N of 50N for the strongest wind speeds Sun into early Mon, so we are staying on port. Winds will back during Sat, allowing us to continue on port past 50N
3) Sat is a transition day with winds backing into the W during the day and WSW overnight
a) wind speeds will increase a few kts, N of 47N
b) average wind speeds will be around 20 kts at and N of 50N and less S
of 48N
c) will be okay to sail as far N as 50-51N, as winds will be indexly W,
WSW, and SW late Sun/early Mon
4) Winds will gradually diminish on Mon, the closer you get to the finish
line, but
a) wind directions will be primarily 250 or left, so must set-up along or N of 50N
b) also, wind speeds will be 2-3 kts higher N of 50N vs S of 50N on Sun night/Mon
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Fri, June 25,
09: 320-335/17-23, 12: 310-330/16-22, near 39 20N/39 55W, 18: 300-320/16-22
Weather. Cloudy to partly cloudy, maybe a brief, quick hitting shower or 2,
especially early morning and again overnight.
Sat, June 26
00: 310-330/18-24, 06: 310-290/17-23, more wind speed further N, 12: 280-300/16-22, near 43 20n/30 50w, 18: 280-260/17-23, more wind speed further N
Weather. Partly cloudy.
Sun, June 27
00: 240-260/20-25, 06: 260-280/18-24, 12: 260-280/18-24, near 49N/21 30W, 18: 240-260/18-24
Weather. Partly cloudy
Mon, June 28
00: 240-260/16-22, 06: 250-220/15-20, 12: 230-250/12-17, near 50N/10W, 18: 230-260/12-17
Tue, June 29
00: 230-250/12-6 - finish at Lizard, 06: 240-210/ 7-11
Weather. Partly cloudy to fair.
Partner of the Day: McMurdo ... suppliers of Ellen's safety equipment while she's at sea.
NOTES ON THE RECORD
Solo west-east Transatlantic existing records:
Laurent Bourgnon: Primagaz (60ft trimaran)
June 1994; 7d 2h 34m 42s, 2925 miles, at an average speed 17.15 knots
Florence Arthaud (fastest female): Pierre 1er (60ft trimaran)
1990; 9d 22h 5m, 2925 miles, average speed 12.25 knots
MacArthur currently holds three previous solo sailing race records set on board her 60-foot monohull Kingfisher:
* Plymouth (UK) to Newport (US) east-west transatlantic 14 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes (fastest female and winner of Class 1).
* Fastest female to race solo around the world in the 2000/2001 Vendée Globe in 94 days, 4 hours, 25 minutes, 40 seconds and finishing 2nd overall.
* Route du Rhum race (St Malo, France to Guadeloupe) new course record 13 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes, 47 seconds
Click here for further information on Sailing Speed Records and here for information on Ellen's campaign.
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For further information, please contact Offshore Challenges:
Kate Steven or Lucy Harwood
T: +44 (0)870 063 0210
E: kate@offshorechallenges.com or lucy@offshorechallenges.com
B&Q has over 350 stores in the UK, China and Taiwan and employs about 40,000 people. With its sister DIY company Castorama which has stores in France, Italy and Poland, B&Q is the biggest DIY retailer in Europe and third biggest in the world.
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