27.06.2004
DAY6: MEDIA UPDATE: “I’m on the edge, right on the edge”
IN BRIEF
B&Q NOW GYBED ON TO STARBOARD AND headING FOR THE FINISH LINE
wind forecast to increase to up to a stressful 35 knots tonight then moderate by morning...a high pressure night of sailing downwind under gennaker in store for an already exhausted ELLEN
FATIGUE MAYBE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE....”I feel *****. Really tired. last night was terrible. I can’t even remember what we talked about this morning.” But not much chance of rest...”Pretty hard to get rest when you’ve got the gennaker up...definitely going to snooze...not going to make it through tomorrow if I don’t.”
AVERAGE SPEED NOW REQUIRED TO BREAK RECORD IS 18.5 knots down the direct route. Tough if wind dies, or forces her to gybe. Tough if equipment fails after 5 full on days of pressure. Tough if skipper hits the fatigue wall that she is very close to. But doable.
FORCED BY THE WEATHER, ELLEN HAS SAILED NEARLY 20% FURTHER than Laurent Bourgnon’s record run track, yet still has a chance to beat his 10 year old record.
WEBCAM ONLINE: click on the webcam button at http://www.teamellen.com to catch a glimpse of Ellen at work...
STATISTICS AT 1400GMT 27 JUNE
B&G data, compiled by Sony VAIO, sent via Thrane and Thrane Fleet77, uploaded via BT Broadband
Elapsed time: 5d 15h 50m
Ahead/behind record:
-56 miles, 3hr 15min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 2115
Distance covered in last 24 hrs: 438 nm
Distance to finish: 640
Position: 48 21 52N; 21 21 24W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 16.29
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 18.29
Current boat speed: 16.6 knots
1215GMT AUDIO UPDATE WITH ELLEN: TRANSCRIPT
Well we’ve gybed...broken 4 battens...doesn’t matter, we’re a day a way, don’t think it will hurt the sail...not prepared to worry about it too much, not going to fix them, not in the time we’ve got....its the top 4...hope it will be fine when we are going downwind later in 35 knots of wind.
I feel *****. Really tired. Last night was terrible. I can’t even remember what we talked about this morning...
22 to 25 knots of wind...25 is the max for the gennaker, but I unrolled it anyway...we got the shift, greater than predicted. We’re sailing right down the line now, we might have to gybe again before we get in...I was putting everything away, neat, and was thinking I’m sure we’ll have to gybe again...
Distance to go now is 695 miles, I’ve got to average 18.5 knots between here and the finish...doing 19 now...tonight when the breeze kicks in its going to be strong. Pierre reckons 18Z I’ll have between 30 to 35knots, then down to 25 to 30knots midnight...need to be on the ball tonight to get the gennaker back up. I’m going to try leaving the gennaker up furled...think it should be already if I get a good furl.
No furling winch [broken on day 1], so its a bit of a *****.
Trying to be reasonable and calm myself down at every opportunity, cos i’m really knackered, Don’t know why I’m still smiling. I’m on the edge, right on the edge, just trying to stay the right side of it....and eat, be chilled, just spent half hour going over boat, not deps need doing, but it makes me feel more ready to deal with what is going to happen. Tonight is going to be a tough one.
Pretty hard to get rest when you’ve got the gennaker up...definitely going to snooze...not going to make it through tomorrow if I don’t.
<> WILL HAVE TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE BY 00:44:42 GMT ON TUESDAY 29th JUNE 2004 TO ET A NEW RECORD FOR THE FASTEST SOLO SAILOR TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC
27.06.2004
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ELLEN PUSHES TO THE LIMIT: LESS THAN 3 HOURS FROM BOURGNON PACE, BUT TRICKY CONDITIONS Ahead
IN BRIEF
ELLEN CLOSES TO UNDER 3 HOURS from Laurent Bourgnon’s 1994 record pace...from being 24 hours behind on day 2 of her attempt, to only 47 miles behind at 0800gmt this morning. 674 miles to the Lizard finish line.
TACTICALLY TODAY IS THE BIG DAY as Ellen must gybe on to the other tack and head as close as possible to the finish line off of Lizard...timing this with the wind shifting slowly to the south west is tricky, but critical to her chances of breaking the record. The wind is expected to increase significantly this morning, before starting to die away tonight.
AFTER THE WIND, FATIGUE STILL THE BIGGEST PERFORMANCE FACTOR as Ellen tries to grab as many naps as possible before the final push to the line which will require all her reindexing energy. Trying to sleep, even after 5 days of virtually none [estimate 2 hours per 24 max], is surprisingly difficult due to the stress of B&Q hurtling along at extraordinary speeds.
WEBCAM ONLINE: click on the webcam button at http://www.teamellen.com to catch a glimpse of Ellen at work...
AUDIO FROM A TIRED ELLEN recorded this morning with BBC Sport at 0800 GMT: http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/em270604a_uk.mp3
STATISTICS AT 0800GMT 26 JUNE
B&G data, compiled by Sony VAIO, sent via Thrane and Thrane Fleet77, uploaded via BT Broadband
Elapsed time: 5d 5h 50m
Ahead/behind record:
-47 miles, 2hr 46min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 2133
Distance covered in last 24 hrs: 477 nm
Distance to finish: 722
Position: 47 26 52N; 23 04 26W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 16.41
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 17.61
Current boat speed: 16 knots
ON CHANCES OF BREAKING RECORD
“Its being pretty tiring, we’ve had some pretty difficult conditions to handle over the past few days, so tactically its been improtant to push as hard as I can and keep driving. WE have just under 2 days to break the record, so its going to be a really hard push now....we have a gybe coming up later today, then we should be one heading in to the finish line. ....I’m feeling pretty tired...all I know is I’ll give all I’ve got until we cross the line, it maybe before it may be after. WE still have a chance, it depends on how these winds materialise this afternoon...
ON REST/SLEEP
“Sleep has been unbelievably brief since we left 5 days ago...its been mostly 10 minutes here and there, and mostly outside where its pretty cold and moist...”
WHERE DOES IT RATE ON DIFFICULTY SCALE IN YOUR SAILING CAREER
“This is definitely one of the most challenging things...racing a pretty big boat over an intense short period...every sail change is hard, when a sail needs changing you do it straight away...to keep that up....has made it very tiring”
“Haven’t had the ‘what am I doing here’ feeling yet on this trip, but it has been a huge challenge. It is still a huge challenge, its not just a few hours to keep going. We’re still two days away. You learn a lot about how you manage yourself and how aware you are of your mental state. I know I’ve pushed myself. I feel ok, looking forward to a bit more sleep in the next two hours, then it could be gennaker up so difficult to do anything”
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR SANITY
“The race part is a small part of this project...we started building B&Q nearly a year ago, so many people have put in so much time to make her ready for a record attempt. When things are going wrong out here.... I think about the fact that I’m not just doing it for me, its for everyone who has put so much in...”
WEATHER BRIEFING: from Commander's Weather to Ellen
Summary
1) No important changes from the earlier forecasts
2) Winds will start to back between now and 0900UTC
3) Will probably have to gybe between 0900 and 1200UTC Sun
4) Winds will continue to shift left during the reindexder of Sun and could
reach a max left in the 210s
during Sun evening
a) wind directions will change little during Mon morning, but then
will slowly veer late Mon afternoon and evening
5) If we are S of 50N when we gybe, that is just fine
a) must go as fast as possible to the E or best angle, but point no
further S than 47 30-48N
b) will use the veering winds Mon afternoon to gybe to port and finish
on port gybe
6) Little change in wind speed the next 3-6 hrs, but wind speeds will start
to increase around
1000-1200UTC
a) wind speeds will frequently exceed 25 kts by 1600-1800UTC and could
touch 30 kts at times
b) wind speeds will diminish, once you are E of 12W
c) wind speeds look a kt or 2 stronger around 00UTC Tue, if we haven't
finished by then!
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Sun, June 27
09: 260-240/17-23
12: 250-220/20-25, near 49 30N/21 30W
18: 220-240/24-30
Weather Partly cloudy
Mon, June 28 - winds diminish fairly quickly E of 12W
00: 210-230/22-28
06: 220-240/24-18
12: 220-250/22-14, near 49N/8 45W
18: 230-260/12-17
Weather Partly cloudy to fair
Tue, June 29
00: 250-280/14-8 - finish at Lizard
06: 250-220/ 5-10
B&Q WILL HAVE TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE BY 00:44:42 GMT ON TUESDAY 29th JUNE 2004 TO ET A NEW RECORD FOR THE FASTEST SOLO SAILOR TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY: B&G autopilots and data systems form the core of the electronics package onboard the trimaran.
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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