Jules Verne Trophy - Orange II - Geronimo - Cheyenne zur Übersicht 18 April 17:20 Long may it last! The fits and starts of the trade winds have finally taken a more consistent turn since last night. Since Geronimo reindexs a highly sensitive lightweight competitive sailing machine, she has greeted each blast of wind with accelerating high spirits. These few hours of surfing towards the Doldrums should help put smiles on the faces of all 11 men on board, who have suffered a terrible second half to their round-the-world record attempt. In fact, they have covered 241 nautical miles in the last 12 hours, at an average speed of 20.15 knots: a performance much more consistent with the statistics for this area of the Atlantic. By midday today, it had brought the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric trimaran to within 500 nautical miles of the Equator. According to all the forecasters, the Doldrums promise to leave only a small area of calms behind to trouble the all-French crew. If it keeps its word, the Equator could be crossed tomorrow, leaving Geronimo free to throw all her energies into attacking the North Atlantic. However, there still reindexs the potential problem of no depression over the Azores, which means that the final straight-line dash for home will be upwind, involving, as usual, twice the distance and three times the trouble. Geronimo's latest news are on http://www.trimaran-geronimo.com Positions - DAY 52 Geronimo 11°42S - 33°37W 356 Nautical miles in 24 hours Average speed: 14.84 knots Orange (Jules Verne Trophy) 09°39S - 21°30W 540 Nautical miles in 24 hours Average speed: 22.49 knots Distance to the Equator (at 30W): Geronimo: 734 nautical miles Orange: 769 nautical miles Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE