11.12.2004
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DAY 14 MEDIA RELEASE : NO PAIN, NO GAIN - PUSH TO THE SOUTH IMMINENT.........
KEY DATA DAY 13 1510 GMT: 26 hours 37 minutes ahead of Joyon (data communicated by Thrane MiniC via BT Business Broadband)
Lat/Long: 24 53 S / 020 46 W (1445 miles E Brazil / 2170 W Cape of Good Hope)
Average Boat speed: 18.97 knots (heading ESE)
True Wind speed: 17.2 knots (direction N)
Distance sailed so far: 5312 miles
Update based on data recorded at 1510 GMT...check http://www.teamellen.com for the latest data updated hourly...
OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur
IN BRIEF:
* ONE LAST PUSH THROUGH THE SOUTH ATLANTIC...B&Q will have to sacrifice some of her 26 hour lead, as Ellen forced to abandon the favoured ESE direct route and head south...
* GYBE ON THE AGENDA FOR B&Q TO CROSS THE COLD FRONT...the transition will not be pleasant - sudden change from downwind 20 knots, to 25-30+ knot headwinds and rough seas - but the aim is to get south and into more breeze...
* B&Q SHOULD BE IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN WITHIN 48 HOURS...Ellen will spend nearly a month racing through some of the world's most hostile and remote seas...
http://www.teamellen.com
IN DETAIL:
Less than 72 hours ago, B&Q crossed into the Southern Hemisphere - setting a new solo Equator time of 8 days, 18 hours, 20 minutes along the way - and solo skipper, Ellen MacArthur, was anticipating a difficult crossing of the South Atlantic. Three and half days on and now over 26 hours ahead of Joyon's time, MacArthur's passage through the South Atlantic, by-passing the boat-stopping St Helena High, has turned into a express train: "It didn't look so good to start with, but so far it's turned out to be pretty good. But when you look at a map and see where we are, we're a third of the way from Brazil and two-thirds of the way from South Africa so we've been doing okay so far but still long way from being in the south." And that's the issue, as an approaching cold front messes up the game plan forcing B&Q south away from the direct route.
Currently averaging over 18 knots of boat speed in a following wind, B&Q will have to gybe on to starboard in the not too distant future, to avoid getting pushed east into the high pressure - her only choice is to try and straddle the cold front by plunging south in search of favourable breeze the other side to propel her south east. The transition of the cold front will not be pleasant with 25-30+ knot headwinds and big sea state coming from the east, and it could all happen very quickly which in itself is very hard to manage onboard in terms of sail choice. Quick sail changes for Ellen on her own don't exist.... But the goal is to pick up a fast moving low the other side: "I've got to try and catch the front of that low and sit on the front of it and that's going to be the hard part... To be exactly at the right latitude not to get stuck in the middle of the low but get far enough south so you get into the decent breeze of the low where you've got a chance of staying with it for a while. Trying to get that exactly right is pretty stressful right now. I'm going to be sailing upwind for a large amount of time over the next 36 hours..."
The other side, of course, is the Southern Ocean from the Cape of Good Hope via Cape Leeuwin (south-west tip of Australia) and, finally, Cape Horn: "Reckon we'll start going quickly when we get to 35 south. Right now, we're at 24 south so we've got 10 degrees of latitude to get down [600 miles] - so within the next 48 hours we should be in the Southern Ocean." If she can keep herself and the boat together, Ellen is likely to spend around 30 days in one of the most remote and inhospitable oceanic regions in the world - mentally preparing for that is not easy: "You walk round the boat and you see things getting tired and you change lashings and you think about the auto-pilot rams and are they getting tired? At the end of the day, with a boat averaging such high speeds, you will have problems..."
EXCERPTS FROM ELLEN AUDIO 1200 GMT : courtesy of Geolink/Iridium
To listen to the full audio http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/ellen/em111204a_uk_e.mp3
What concerns do you have about going into the south?
Obviously the rudder is a big stress for the Southern Ocean because we will get absolutely hammered down there. We wil see worse than the worst we saw in the North Atlantic, when we were going fast and reaching and getting hit by waves, which is what caused the problem in the first place - it's likely this could get worse and it could become a bigger issue. You walk round the boat and you see things getting tired and you change lashings and you think about the auto-pilot rams and are they getting tired... At the end of the day, with a boat averaging such high speeds, you will have problems - that's why its something not many people undertake and the whole existance is pretty stressful.
How much wind are you likely to see tomorrow?
25-30 knots, maybe 40, basically I've got to go south through a front which is an old front sitting on top of a high, and that high is going to squeeze away to the east and when that high moves to the east there is a low charging down behind it. I've got to try and catch the front of that low and sit on the front or sit on the top of that low and that's going to be the hard part... To be exactly at the right latitude not to get stuck in the middle of the low but get far enough south so you get into the decent breeze of the low where you've got a chance of staying with it for a while. Trying to get that exactly right is pretty stressful right now. I'm going to be sailing upwind for a large amount of time over the next 36 hours and as to when that happens [ie when to gybe south and the forecasted headwinds] we're just trying to decide that at the moment.
What latitude will you get the shift to the south-west?
Reckon we'll start going quickly when we get to 35 south and, right now, we're at 24 south so we've got 10 degrees of latitude to get down - so within the next 48 hours we will be in the Southern Ocean.
WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER:
From: Commanders' Weather Corp 0600UTC Saturday, December 11, 2004
Still sailing on fresh NW winds preceding the cold front. The NW winds will hold for another 12-18 hours and then the cold front arrives. The cold front is approaching from the SSW.
There will be a band of showers and squalls preceding the cold front. Despite the threat of a squall to 20-30 kts, the overall wind speeds will be quite light and variable in the cold front vicinity. About 20-30 miles south of the cold front, strong E-SE winds will develop – we will no longer be able to sail our ESE heading.
Large, strong high pressure area is pushing the cold front to the NE and the high pressure center itself is also moving ENE. We will not be able to pass east of this high pressure area, and we must avoid the center of the high and its light winds. This will require us to sail SSW for a time Saturday night into Sunday.
If the weather routing is correct, then we will be sailing quickly to the E later Monday, after the high pushes E of our longitude.
Routing:
Fast as possible on port for another 12+ hours and then we will be gybing then S and SSW and picking up our ride E around 35S/20W
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC
Sat, Dec 11
12:00 320-340/16-22 - potential for 25-30 kts for a short time in a narrow band
18:00 310-330/13-18
Partly to mostly cloudy with a good chance of wind killing showers overnight. There may be a few gusty squalls mixed with the light winds - very difficult frontal zone
Sun, Dec 12
00:00 300-330/12-6, gybing
06:00 var 5-10 with squalls. The easterly will increase rapidly around 27 30-28S
12:00 110-130/15-25, near 28 20S/19 50W - becoming quite rough
18:00 100-120/20-30, it will be rough, MUST take it easy!!
Showers/squalls early then cloudy to partly cloudy. Seas come up to 8-12 feet and from the ESE
http://www.commandersweather.com
PARTNER OF THE DAY : B&G
Official marine electronics supplier to Ellen and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
Click here for further information on Sailing Speed Records http://www.sailspeedrecords.com and here for information on Ellen's campaign http://www.teamellen.com
For further information, please contact Offshore Challenges:
Lou Newlands or Lucy Harwood
T: +44 (0)870 063 0210
E: lou@offshorechallenges.com or lucy@offshorechallenges.com
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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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