17.12.2004
Aktuelle Meldung !
B&Q crossed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope at 17:56 GMT on Friday,
17th December 2004, setting a new solo fastest time of 19 days, 9 hours and 46 minutes, taking 10 hours and 45 minutes off Francis Joyon's time.
Francis Joyon set an Ushant to Cape of Good Hope time of 19 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes on 12th December 2003 during his successful solo world record.
Ellen reported crossing the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope at 18 29 degrees east in 40-foot seas! Setting a new fastest solo time is a second speed 'benchmark' for MacArthur, after setting a faster time to the Equator 10 days ago. It is also worth making a comparison to a couple of the recent 'fully-crewed' round the world Jules Verne record attempts, that saw the crew of the 110ft maxicat 'Orange' take 18 days and 18 hours to reach the same point in 2002 and in 1994 the crew of ENZA took 19 days and 17 hours on their successful Jules Verne bid.
Ellen MacArthur solo times:
Equator 8 days, 18 hours, 20 minutes (0230 GMT 7.12.04)
Cape of Good Hope 19 days, 9 hours, 46 minutes (17:56 GMT 17.12.04)
17.12.2004
DAY 20 MEDIA RELEASE: ELLEN POISED TO BREAK CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TIME......
KEY DATA DAY 19 1510 GMT: 16 hours 34 minutes ahead of Joyon
OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur
Lat/Long: 40 34 S / 017 36 E (380 miles south, and 40 miles west of the longitude of Cape of Good Hope)
Average Boat speed: 18.63 knots (heading SE)
True Wind speed: 23.9 knots (direction WNW)
Distance sailed so far: 7678 miles
(data communicated by Thrane MiniC via BT Business Broadband)
Update based on data recorded 1510 GMT...check http://www.teamellen.com for the latest data updated hourly
IN BRIEF:
* AT 1610GMT FORTY MILES TO GO TO THE LONGITUDE OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE... B&Q expected to cross this line that marks the start of the transition from the South Atlantic into the Indian Ocean in approximately 3 hours time...
* SECOND SOLO SPEED BENCHMARK APPEARS TO BE WITHIN ELLEN'S GRASP...having set a new fastest solo time to the Equator (8d 18h 20m), MacArthur looks set to shave up to 10 hours off Joyon's time to the Cape of Good Hope...
* NUMBER CRUNCHING THE SOUTHERN OCEAN... Ellen's constant calculations: "Joyon sailed approximately 12,044 miles in the Southern Ocean at an average speed of 17.3 knots, that's an average of 415 miles per day. If I can keep the boat together, that has got to be do-able".
* WATCH BBC GRANDSTAND THIS SUNDAY to catch up with B&Q's story so far... Broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday afternoon at 1615 GMT
To listen to Ellen's full audio, courtesy of Geolink/Iridium, click here http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/ellen/em171204a_uk_e.mp3
MEDIA PLEASE NOTE: As soon as the time is recorded for B&Q crossing the Cape of Good Hope longitude, it will be posted on the website at http://www.teamellen.com and followed by a mail-out press alert.
IN DETAIL:
Ten days after setting a new fastest solo time to the Equator, Ellen MacArthur is poised to set a new solo time from Ushant to the Cape of Good Hope. At 1610 GMT, B&Q only had another 40 miles to go before crossing the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope longitude at 18 29 degrees East - it is anticipated to take Ellen another 3 hours of sailing to cross the line that marks the second major landmark of the round the world course. "We've got a good heading and it's taking us as far south, as fast as we can go on the direct route...if all goes well, we should be crossing the line due south to the Cape of Good Hope soon, which would mean taking off around 10 hours off Francis' time. We'll see how it goes. We're not there yet but it would certainly be a positive move for our debut into the Southern Ocean." Joyon's time stands at 19 days, 20 hours and 31 minutes and to beat this time, B&Q needed to cross the longitude of 18 29 degrees east by 0441 GMT tomorrow.
Passing south of 40 degrees, B&Q 'officially' entered the Southern Ocean today after a night of hard sailing after gybing onto starboard early yesterday evening: "We had really changeable breeze and everything was up and down but we seem to have come out of it okay. We've got reasonable boat speed and we've got good breeze. I'm sailing along with blue skies which makes a huge difference after what we were sailing in yesterday in the front of the depression. There's quite a few petrels and albatrosses around. And we've dropped below 40 south, so we're now officially in the Roaring Forties!"
Ellen indextains a 16 hour 34 minute lead over Joyon's time [at 1610 GMT] as B&Q powers south-east at 18.63 knots of boat speed on the direct course in 23 knots of breeze from the WNW heading straight for the Indian Ocean - the first ocean sector of the Southern Ocean - that officially begins at the meridian of 20 degrees east.
B&Q is approximately 380 miles south of the geographical Cape of Good Hope as Ellen begins the transition from the South Atlantic into the Indian Ocean section of the Roaring Forties: "The Indian Ocean is renowned for it's bad storms and the Cape of Good Hope marks the boundary between the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. In a few hours time we will be leaving the South Atlantic and the next time we will be in there, will be when we round Cape Horn heading north again. The Indian Ocean is renowned for its depressions which fly down off Africa. They tend to be very, very energetic depressions with a lot of wind in them and they can sometimes build very, very quickly and that can lead to a very dangerous situation. You have to be extra vigilant to see what's coming and, obviously, try not to get stuck in something which is particularly venomous."
As a second solo speed benchmark appears to be within MacArthur's grasp, the first being her solo time to the Equator of 8 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes, Ellen continues the number crunching: "If you isolate the Southern Ocean segment (Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn), then Joyon sailed approximately 12,044 miles at an average speed of 17.3 knots, that's an average of 415 miles per day. Effectively, that is my target now, I have to do better than that if I can. I think its do-able if I can keep me and B&Q together."
WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT:
From: Commanders' Weather Corp 0600UTC Friday, December 17, 2004
The frontal boundary has shifted north of Ellen with SW breeze mostly in the 18-25 kt range behind the front. The character of the breeze though may continue to be squally in nature with lulls as low as 15 kts and peaks up near 25 kts. Direction will trend to more W direction Friday night especially as Ellen gets further south. She has reported some unfavorable current of 2-3 kts and this will make for rough seas and slower boat speeds than expected as she heads SE on starboard.
As Ellen approaches 43-44s later Saturday she likely will need to gybe to port and get some northing in to stay safely north of the potential ice threat which increases south of 45s. Winds will diminish some on Saturday but will be on the increase Sunday as next low pressure trough approaches from the west. This trough will clock winds into the NW with speeds perhaps building to 25-35 kts by Sunday night. Ellen will be heading rapidly east at that point somewhere between 42-44s.
Routing: Want to continue southing to avoid lighter and more SW winds north of 40s. Once down to 43-44s can head more eastward with some room to get northward if needed.
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC
Fri, Dec 17 getting slowly south, still squally with lulls as low as 15 kts peaks as high as 25 kts
09:00 230-250/15-25
12:00 230-250/15-25 near 39 50s/17 e
18:00 240-260/15-25 winds lighter to the N
Cloudy to occasionally partly cloudy, Brief widely scattered shower possible
Seas 8-12 feet with a W to WSW swell resulting in very choppy waters in
the adverse current.
Sat, Dec 18 - continue SE
00:00 250-270/17-22 wind stronger to the S and W. lighter N and E
06:00 260-280/18-25
12:00 260-280/17-22 nr 43s 26 e
18:00 260-280/17-22 gybe to port?
Variable clouds with some scattered showers
http://www.commandersweather.com
PARTNER OF THE DAY : MUSTO
Official technical clothing 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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