Oceanracing - Ellen Mac Arthur - Around-Alone-Nonstop Rekord

Ellen Mac Arthur - und ihr B&Q Maxi-Trimaran
www.teamellen.com - zur Übersicht

12.01.2005
Trimaran title sponsor B&Q is the biggest DIY retailer in Europe and third biggest in the world. http://www.diy.com
DAY 46: ELLEN PAYING FINAL DUES TO CAPE HORN

DAY 45 0746 GMT: 4 days 2 hours 45 minutes ahead of Joyon at Cape Horn OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur

KEY DATA 0800GMT:
Lat/Long: 56 32 S / 067 09 W Average Boat speed: 17.60 knots (heading E) True Wind speed: 42.6 knots (direction W by S) Sea temperature: 9.3 degrees C Distance sailed so far: 19,057 miles at an average speed of 17.6 knots (data communicated by Thrane MiniC via BT Business Broadband)

Check http://www.teamellen.com for the latest update
IN BRIEF:
* B&Q PASSES CAPE HORN AT 07:46:44 GMT THIS MORNING
setting a new solo time of 44 days, 23 hours and 36 minutes, taking 4 days, 2 hours, 45 minutes of the previous solo record time of Francis Joyon who crossed the longitude of Cape Horn at 67 16 degrees west after 49 days, 2 hours, and 21 minutes.This marks the exit from the Southern Ocean after spending over 20 days in one of the world's harshest environments, as Ellen heads towards the South Atlantic and the final third stage of her solo round the world record attempt.

Ellen am Kap - übermüdet aber glücklich

Kap Hoorn ist eine nautische Region
Image © Web Lifted Image

* SURVIVAL CONDITIONS FOR ELLEN sailing in massive violent seas and storm force winds - wind has been averaging 40 to 50 knots - this is an average, the gusts are still much, much higher up to 60 knots. MacArthur is in pure survival mode, dropping the indexsail of B&Q entirely last night and now sailing under the tiny staysail only, she was surfing down the waves at over 30 knots on the final approach to Cape Horn. Commanders' Weather summarised that these were the 'roughest conditions of the trip so far'. B&Q. passed Cape Horn 35 miles off, as she sailed by still heading south of east. There is no big sigh of relief yet, the conditions are going to reindex extreme throughout the day, and the relative 'shelter' of the Atlantic is still a hundred miles away.

* EXTREME FATIGUE FOR MACARTHUR WHO WAS ASLEEP AT THE MOMENT
of crossing the longitude of Cape Horn at 67 16 degrees west. The conditions of the night finally took their toll and sleep became an absolute necessity, she awoke by chance moments after crossing the longitude and made this phonecall to her shore team: "Cold, tired and buggered, basically. Passing the Horn right now and I'm in my bunk, have been asleep." She was on the point of being unable to speak.

* ELLEN EMAIL EARLIER LAST EVENING SAYING GOODBYE TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN: "the seas are monstrous, and as i stand in <> cockpit i cannot feel that i shall miss this wild and wonderful place." See full email below.

* SEVERE CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO SUBSIDE BY 1800 GMT TODAY as Ellen gets away from Cape Horn and once B&Q is far enough east, she will gybe to port to clear Staten Island later today and then continue NNE hoping to pass west of the Falkland Islands tonight. The W-SW winds will still be strong - 30-40 knots with stronger gusts and sea conditions will continue to be rough. By tomorrow the winds will be predominantly from the west and decrease in strength, hopefully providing some recovery time for Ellen.

* ELLEN'S OC SAILING TEAM MATE UPDATE:
Nick Moloney on Skandia, 7th place in the Vendee Globe, and will be hoping to pass Cape Horn within the next few days a few hundred miles behind Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac, who is also rounding the Horn this morning. The Vendée Globe organisers were providing his position every 30 minutes to Ellen's shore team to prevent any collision in the extreme weather conditions under nightfall, as the two boats passed within a few miles of each other in the early hours of this morning. http://www.nickmoloney.com

EMAIL FROM ELLEN - GOODBYE TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN:
We are sailing in 30 to 40 knots right now, and getting very close to our gybe just 45 miles off the coast off western chile. the seas are monstrous, and as i stand in <> cockpit i cannot feel that i shall miss this wild and wonderful place.. somehow the south finds places inside you that you were unaware you had, it conjours up the most vivid memories, shows you the most unbelievable and breathtaking sights.. Behind <> there is a rain filled squall - but from behind peepes the setting sun.. the light beams out a rich powerful, dominant orange over the grey darkness of the clouds - it lights the spray flying from the crests of the waves, giving them a delicate, almost furry texture.. how can such a powefil 40 foot wave be so delacate...? As the light gets behind a breaking wave it seems to lift the crest higher.. the striking turquoise colour seems as if it's artificially illuminted from another source - such brilliant colour in an otherwise grey blue sea... A lone albatross circles ahead.. how many passing ships has he seen i ask... a tear comes to my eye - beacuse the albatross we see on this voyage are now numbered, their gracful effortless flight, and constant companionship will have to reaindex etched in my mind till the next time...

For all being well...the next setting sun over <> will be one as we leave the southern ocean behind...
ellen

WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT:
Extremely rough conditions - the roughest of the trip so far - as Ellen passes south of Cape Horn 6-8 utc Wed. Wind avg over 40 kts and gusting over 50kts with 20-30 foot seas. Expect these severe conditions to subside slightly by 12 utc Wed as she gets away from Cape Horn. At that time she should be far enough east to gybe to port and be able to clear Staten Island to the east at 18 utc Wed and then continue NNE passing west of the Falklands Wednesday night. But the W-SW winds will still be running 30-40 kts with some higher gusts Wednesday and Wednesday night so it will continue very rough for her.
But as she gets north of the Falklands later Wed night and Thursday the winds will clock back into the W and diminishing significantly Thursday - finally away from strong winds and high seas of the Southern Ocean and Cape Horn.

Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC

Wed, Jan 12
09: 250-260/37-42, gust/squall 45-50 12: 250-260/34-38, gust/squall 40-45 nr 56 25s /65 20w - gybe to port when you can clear Staten Island to the east 15: 250-260/ 32-36, gust/squall 40-45 18: 240-260/32-36, gust/squall 40-45 - east of Staten Island 21: 230-250/ 32-36, gust/squall 40-45 Mix of clouds and sunshine with brief scattered showers/squalls Seas 20-25 feet peak waves possible to 30 feet

Thu, Jan 13
00: 230-240/ 30-40, gust 45 06: 230-240/ 30-35, gust 40 12: 240-260/ 25-30, near 48 30s/60w 18: 260-280/ 20-25 Partly cloudy with the showers/squalls ending. Seas diminish to 10-15 feet

Fri, Jan 14
00: 270-290/17-22 06: 270-290/20-25 12: 270-290/23-28, near 43s/53w 18: 290-310/25-30 Partly cloudy to cloudy

ELLEN MACARTHUR SOLO ROUND THE WORLD - NEW SOLO TIMES: Ushant-Equator 8d 18h 20m 7/12/04 0230GMT (taking 14h 3m off Joyon's time) Ushant-Cape of Good Hope 19d 9h 46m 17/12/04 1756GMT (taking 10h 45m off Joyon's time) Ushant-Cape Leeuwin 29d 14h 5m 27/12/04 2215GMT (taking 17h 24m off Joyon's time) Ushant-Cape Horn 44d 23h 36m 12/1/04 0746GMT (taking 4 days 2h 45m off Joyon's time)
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
To change frequency of email updates selecting daily, weekly or major, please click here http://www.teamellen.com/updates.asp
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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