03.01.2005
DAY 37: MACARTHUR PASSES 15,000 MILE MARK ON HER SOLO ATTEMPT...
KEY DATA DAY 36 0710 GMT: 2 days 12 hours 19 minutes ahead of Joyon
OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur
Lat/Long: 51 56 S / 170 37 W (745 miles E Campbell Island / 530 miles SSE Chatham Island))
Average Boat speed: 21.89 knots (heading E)
True Wind speed: 26.9 knots (direction SSW)
Sea temperature: 10.6 degrees C
Distance sailed so far: 15,099 miles at an average speed of 17.5 knots
(data communicated by Thrane MiniC via BT Business Broadband)
Update based on data recorded 0710 GMT...check home page for the latest data updated hourly
IN BRIEF:
* B&Q COVERS OVER 15,000 MILES GOING INTO DAY 36...
* LOOKING TO STAY ON ONE GYBE UNTIL HALFWAY TO THE HORN, an ambitious wish but if possible will significantly help MacArthur to build on her 2.5 day advantage over Joyon...
* ICE THREAT DECREASES as sea water temperatures increase as B&Q powers eastwards in squally SW airflow as MacArthur starts clocking up regular 450+ 24hr runs getting close to her personal best of 484.5 miles...
IN DETAIL:
B&Q heading east at over 20 knots of boat speed having passed the 15,000 mile mark on her solo, non-stop round the world record attempt. This morning, MacArthur had sailed 15,099 miles through the water at an average speed of 17.5 knots and indextained her two and a half day lead, that now counts for just under 7% of the time reindexing to break the 72 day, 22 hour and 54 minute record set by Francis Joyon, who still reindexs the only sailor in history to have set a new world record for sailing solo, non-stop around the world on a multihull.
MacArthur gybed B&Q back on to starboard on New Year's Day north of Campbell Island and B&Q has quickly left the island in her wake. B&Q is now 745 miles east of Campbell and 530 miles SSE of Chatham Island - this island being famous for the first place on earth to celebrate New Year - and yesterday lunchtime as B&Q crossed the International Date Line at 180 degrees east, Ellen claimed her extra day, as the time went from being 12 hours ahead to 11 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.
B&Q is in typical south-westerly airflow conditions that changes significantly both in speed and direction. Over the last 12 hours, the wind speed has been in the 21-33 knot range, although the wind direction has reindexed relatively stable from the south-west, with only one shift to 191 degrees [south] that forced B&Q to sail slightly north of east for a few hours. But compared to Joyon who had gybed several times at this point, as he manoeuvred IDEC to get into the strong airflow, MacArthur is fortunate to be powering eastwards on one gybe and things are looking pretty good for the future: "The direction is useful for us because it means we can stay on starboard right up until the Convergence comes to the north about halfway between here and the Horn, and we may get away with doing one gybe at the tip of that Convergence and then going all the way to the Horn [approx 3,300 miles] on the other gybe..." See Jargon Buster below for explanation of Convergence Zone.
The increase in sea temperature, now back up to 10 degrees, provides some relief to MacArthur as the threat of ice subsides for now. This morning the passing of a cold front will bring difficult and squally conditions with hard-hitting gusts in the 36-38 knot range. But should stabilise from tomorrow onwards as a low pressure develops to the north-east of Ellen.
WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT:
From: Commanders' Weather Corp 0600UTC Monday, January 3, 2005
Ellen is located in an area of broad SW and SSW winds. This will not change until later Wednesday.
This breeze is normal quite gusty and squally. In addition, there will be a cold front passing Ellen around 0900UTC today/Monday. Very unstable, squally, and gusty conditions will continue until the front passes. Watch out for quick moving, hard hitting showers with gusts to 36-38 kts and lulls down to 18-20 kts. Wind directions will also be quite variable until the cold front passes
Important low pressure will form NE of you and another will be moving into South Island, NZ on Tuesday. Looks like more comfortable SSW winds will arrive late today and continue into Wednesday. Wind speeds will fall into the 20-26 kt range on Tuesday.
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC
Mon, Jan 3
09: 230-200/20-26, gust/squall to 30-32
12: 230-200/20-26, gust 30, near 53S/168W
18: 200-230/22-28, gust 32-34
Changeable sky conditions with a few quick moving squally showers - this activity may become a bit less harsh after 1200UTC. Seas 12-16 feet - SW swell
Tue, Jan 4
00: 200-230/20-25, gusts 28-30
06: 200-230/20-26, gusts 30-32
12: 200-230/20-26, gusts 32, near 52 40s/156w
18: 210-240/22-28, gusts 32-34
Partly cloudy to cloudy, still threat of a few passing showers, maybe brief squall. Seas 12-16 feet with a SW swell
JARGON BUSTER : CONVERGENCE ZONE
The water temperatures of the Southern Ocean are far from uniform. Around 60 degrees South, where the Southern ocean meets the warmer southward flowing waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, is the zone known as the Antarctic Convergence, or Polar Front. The total area of sea within the convergence makes up one tenth of all the world's oceans, and contains the coolest and densest water to be found anywhere. The effect of this is to create the area of most icebergs that break off the ice shelf.
PARTNER OF THE DAY : BT Yahoo!
Offshore Challenges broadband supplier to Ellen and the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team
|
