08.02.2004
Cheyenne - 1st RTW Day Completed
Tactical Drive South Continues
Brian Thompson Reports on Day 1
Sunday 8 February 2004 - 10:00GMT - 60 miles SW of Cabo de Finisterre: As they continue to make progress S - SW and away from Spain's Galician coast, Steve Fossett and crew aboard Cheyenne completed their first full day on the round the world record course, working their way through the High pressure of the southern Bay of Biscay and passing Finisterre early this morning (avg speed for the first 24 hrs was 14.3 kts, including the expected slow progress Saturday afternoon and evening - see position reports for details).
They began to make better progress as the wind shifted through North and East overnight. By earlier this morning they were back making between 18 - 22 kts, heading SW to their Monday rendezvous with a cold front to continue the drive to the equator, although at 10h10z the breeze had dropped again and boat speed was back to 12kts. The tactical drive South continues.
Watch Captain Brian Thompson described Day 1 at sea:
"!It was a memorable start. Some of the most difficult sailing we have ever had on Cheyenne was in the trip to the start line. We left Plymouth at sunset beating into the wind to Ushant. As the night progressed the wind built to 50 knots and then to 60 knots and we reefed down to only a triple reefed index, and tried to indextain the slowest speed possible, about 5 knots , just to stop the boat from leaping off the short steep seas. The tide was flowing in the opposite direction to the wind so that made the seastate particularly bad. The spume from the waves was blowing in spectacular white streaks in the moonlight.
This lasted for about 5 hours and then conditions improved to a mere 35 knots and we were able to start making progress to the line from our position in mid English Channel.
We saw the island of Ushant quite clearly in the bright moonlight and got to within about 5 miles before the timekeeper standing on one of the 2 index lighthouses could see us. He took bearings on us as we approached and at 5.10 he called us as having crossed the line. We had 2 reefs and the storm jib and were making 18-20 knots in a wind on the beam. The seas were still big from the SW so we had to keep the speed below 20 knots to protect the boat from the waves.
There was no great emotion at the start, we had had a rough night and it was taking all our concentration to keep the boat safe, we just had a good look at the island slipping past us to leeward, thats where we have to come back to after 60+ days.
We knew conditions were going to moderate through the day so during the day we slowly pulled up more sail. Now it is sunset on the first day and we have the full index and big gennaker up in a light breeze. The ridge of high pressure we were expecting has slipped over us from the south giving us light winds from astern. As the night passes we can expect the wind to shift more into the north and tomorrow we will be on the other gybe sailing in a Southerly wind. This first 3 days of our trip are going to be very tricky, there was the big wind at the start which we have overcome, next is the ridge of light air tonight, and tomorrow we have to shoot out to the west to skirt around a low pressure that is heading from the Azores to the Canaries. Once we have gone past these obstacles we will be in good running conditions to the equator, and we should be able to get back most of the time we will lose at the beginning.
All is good on board, we are starting to eat today, as it was tooo rough for the first 18 hours after leaving Plymouth. Justin Slattery the new crewman was amazed at how much these big cats twist and move in the rough seas, I suppose the rest of us are used to it, but the motion in the upwind conditions is incredible as the hulls lurch fore and aft as the waves pass by."
- Brian Thompson
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