15.01.2005
Trimaran title sponsor B&Q is the biggest DIY retailer in Europe and third biggest in the world. http://www.diy.com
DAY 49: ELLEN FEELING THE STRAIN UNDER THE RELENTLESS PACE...
KEY DATA DAY 48 0710 GMT:
Distance ahead: 1,388 miles
Time ahead: 4 days 5 hours 24 minutes [representing 16.84% of time reindexing] calculated using the average speed of Joyon's time around the world
OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur
Lat/Long: 42 33 S / 056 06 W (525 miles NNE Falkland Is / 395 miles E Argentinian coast)
Average Boat speed: 19.11 knots (heading N by W)
True Wind speed: 24.0 knots (direction SSW)
Sea temperature: 16.1 degrees C
Distance sailed so far: 20,106 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 http://www.teamellen.com for the latest data updated hourly
To listen to Ellen's audio, courtesy of Geolink/Iridium, click here http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/ellen/em150105a_uk_e.mp3
The audio consists of three separate phonecalls to her shore team through the night about the injury to her forehead, the rough head sea and, lastly, about the ridge of high pressure ahead.
IN BRIEF:
* EXTREME FATIGUE IS TAKING ITS TOLL on Ellen after 48 hours of exhausting conditions since passing Cape Horn and tackling the first stage of the South Atlantic up the South American coast. There has been little chance to recuperate and late last night, just as things seemed to be more stable, a two meter head sea [ie waves from ahead, wind from behind], created a violent and dangerous motion on board B&Q that is driving Ellen to her mental limits: "It feels like its trying to break the boat to pieces - we are falling off every third or fourth wave, its hard, the whole boat is shaking, its just terrible, its terrible, its ******** bad. index halyard is creaking, everything is groaning, runners stretching and there's nothing I can do. I've tried slowing down, I've tried speeding up, I've tried everything but the fact it seems we've got mountains heading towards us - this god damn low that's been sat on our nose. Everything is creaking and groaning and smashing and grinding, its just terrible and you go over three waves and you close your eyes and hope its okay, then the fourth one 'WHACK' - I'm sure something is going to break..." There is no way to really describe what Ellen is going through after 48 days at sea in her attempt to break the solo round the world record but her voice says it all - strung-out with tiredness, anxiety and frustration - she is on the edge of her capabilities. To listen to the latest audio, click on the link above.
* RACE TO CROSS A RIDGE OF NO WIND PILES ON THE PRESSURE EVEN MORE as the fluky headwinds of yesterday turn to faster, downwind conditions today, the big question is whether Ellen can go fast enough to get across a potentially windless zone blocking her path off the coast of Uruguay. A call later during the night... "The head sea is much better to be honest, but for four hours we've had constant wind which has been averaging 20 knots and about two and a half hours ago the breeze kicked up to 24 knots and I was trying to sleep, and I thought 'this is stupid I should try and put a reef in', as we generally reef at 22 knots downwind. So I put the reef in and now since then the average wind speed has been 20 knots and our speed over the ground is now averaging 15 knots - which is stupid, we should be averaging 18 knots right now with a full index and doing a decent speed and we're not. We've got a ridge to get across, its not like there isn't anything in front of us that we haven't got to get across, there is - and it's a barrier and it's going to get bigger and bigger with every hour and we've already just lost 15 miles. I mean, it's serious. And this building breeze hasn't built, it has not increased, it's just stayed exactly the same. We should be at 20 knots at 145 true wind angle and we're doing 138 true wind angle at 15 knots - we're trying to go downwind with not enough sail up." This frustration is compounded by the fact that her advantage over Joyon's time is slowly slipping away - 13 hours since 0710gmt yesterday has been lost. Joyon was on his final approach to Cape Horn, sailing in fast downwind conditions, rounding the Horn in 49 days, 2 hours and 21 minutes.
* ELLEN SUFFERS INJURY TO HER FOREhead: "The tack [corner] of the gennaker slipped out of the furler and flew out and hit me on my forehead - got a big lump there, there was blood everywhere. Trying to get a plaster on it but I'm pretty sweaty so it won't stick and I'm going to have to run the generator in a minute which is not really going to help." The injury is considered to be minor and is not causing any major discomfort to Ellen - apart from the moment it impacted with her forehead! But added to the aches and pains from the constant physical exertion of sail changes in the past few days, this is one tired body managing B&Q right now...
* OVER 20,000 MILES SAILED LEAVING JUST OVER 6,000 MILES TO GO and just under 25 days reindexing on the clock to break Joyon's 72 day, 22 hour and 54 minute record as B&Q heads north along the South American coast - now 535 miles NNE of the Falkland Islands - as sea temperature shoots up to 16.1 degrees [less than 7.5 degrees a few days ago]. B&Q has sailed 20,106 miles at an average speed of 17.5 knots [representing 16.84% of the time reindexing], leaving 6,161 miles left to go although Ellen will sail considerably more in the upwind conditions of the Atlantic.
* ELLEN'S OC SAILING TEAM MATE UPDATE: Nick Moloney on Skandia, passed Cape Horn after midnight last night, lying in 7th place and only 500 miles behind Virbac with 7000 miles to go http://www.nickmoloney.com
WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT:
Wind has been gradually coming up and there will be lots of wind today. Light air yesterday, strong flow today! Winds will be SSW to SW and will increase to 25-35 kts with some gusts to 40-45 kts possible.
Want to avoid low pressure that is heading SE. As the low moves SE, stronger winds develop and will be quite rough both wind-wise as well as with the sea-state. The strongest wind will be between 1500utc Sat and 0600utc Sunday. Wind then diminishes quiickly during Sunday (after 12utc), as high pressure over Uruguay Sunday morning moves and expands east.
Goal will be to try and get north of the high and avoid getting engulfed in it. Will have light air later Sunday and into Monday, but hopefully we pass north of the high and get into at least a light SE flow later Monday. Will need to get north of 33s by around 1800utc Monday to avoid the very light air.
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC
Sat, Jan 15
09: 195-215/23-28 -on starboard
12: 200-220/24-30, near 42S/54W
18: 200-220/27-35, gusts 40-45
Becoming cloudy with squally showers developing after18utc. Seas increasing to 16-22 feet.
Sun, Jan 16
00: 210-230/25-35, gusts 40-45
06: 220-240/24-32 -wind begins to diminish
12: 220-240/20-25, near 37 35S/45 10W
18: 220-200/12-17 - wind comes down
Showers ending and clearing skies with seas falling to 10-15 feet overnight.
backing wind means that we will pass E and N of the high
Mon, Jan 17
00: 210-180/12-8 - there will be another little low moving SE, to the east
of us, taking stronger wind out
06: 210-180/ 5-10 - wind more left to the N, more right to the S
12: 200-170/ 5-10, near 33 10s/41w
18: 170-150/ 6-12
Partly cloudy
http://www.commandersweather.com
PARTNER OF THE DAY : RED FUNNEL
Official IOW travel 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
Email powered by Active24
http://www.active24.com
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.
http://www.diy.com
|
