Ellen Mac Arthur - und ihr B&Q Maxi-Trimaran www.teamellen.com - zur Übersicht 24.01.2005 Trimaran title sponsor B&Q is the biggest DIY retailer in Europe and third biggest in the world. http://www.diy.com DAY 58 MEDIA RELEASE: MACARTHUR'S ADVANTAGE GONE, RECORD ATTEMPT STARTS FROM ZERO... KEY DATA DAY 57 0710 GMT: Distance behind: -8 miles Time ahead: 0 hour [representing 0% of time reindexing] measured as the time it took for the trailing boat to get to the same Distance to Finish as the current position of the leading boat OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur Lat/Long: 21 08 S / 029 53 W (650 miles SE Salvador / 1100 miles S Equator) Average Boat speed: 10.31 knots (heading NE) True Wind speed: 10.1 knots (direction NNW) Sea temperature: 28 degrees C Distance sailed so far: 22,555 miles at an average speed of 16.5 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 IN BRIEF: * B&Q'S LEAD DISAPPEARS THIS MORNING and her record attempts restarts from zero. * MACARTHUR HAD indexTAINED A LEAD OVER FRANCIS JOYON'S RECORD since day 7 of her attempt, now under 16 days reindex for MacArthur to try and break the 72 day, 22 hour and 54 minute solo, non-stop round the world record. * B&Q headING NORTHWARDS IN LIGHT UPWIND CONDITIONS - the Equator still lies another 1100 miles ahead. MacArthur must cross the Equator back into the Northern Hemisphere by 0835 GMT on Saturday, 29th January to stay ahead of Joyon's time. A tall order, as <> struggles upwind in light airs and the stability of the south-east Trade Winds still a long way ahead. IN DETAIL: B&Q's lead has disappeared this morning and MacArthur is expecting the deficit to get worse as the light upwind conditions continue to hamper the speed of the 75-foot multihull today and tomorrow. MacArthur has indextained an advantage over current solo round the world record holder, Francis Joyon, since day 7 [4.12.04] of her attempt and managed to extend that lead to over 20 hours going into the Southern Ocean on day 21 [18.12.04] and just over 4 days exiting the Southern Ocean at Cape horn on day 46 [12.1.05]. Since Cape Horn her lead has been eroded as <<> zig-zagged northwards off the coast of South America, in testing and unfavourable weather conditions - the South Atlantic has, once again, proven its ability to bring record attempts to a grinding halt. Her loss over Joyon's record is compounded by his impressive 'virtual' performance of a 399 mile VMG day today (ie he managed 399 miles towards the finish), whilst Ellen is unlikely to manage more than 100-150 miles as she continues to tack upwind in very light airs. Joyon did slow down - on day 60 [Wednesday] he made just 162 miles and day 61 [Thursday] 130 miles, and if <> can start picking up her speed by midweek as she gets into possibly stronger Trade Winds the scales may start to tip back in her favour. B&Q has covered over 22,555 miles at an average speed of 16.5 knots and her required VMG [velocity made good to the finish] now stands at 11.4 knots with 4,559 miles of the course reindexing - although MacArthur will sail over a thousand miles further chasing favourable weather and, as such, she will be required to sail a few knots faster than the average VMG required of 11.4 knots. Ellen passed east of the tiny 3-mile long island of Trinidade yesterday, coming within 6 miles of the the volcanic island dominated by three peaks and today B&Q is approximately 650 miles south-east of Salvador, Brazil. The Equator will be crossed with much relief to take her back into the Northern Hemisphere, but it still lies another 1100 miles to the north and MacArthur must cross the Equator by 0835 GMT on Saturday, 29th January to beat Joyon's passage time. MacArthur faces the reality as the battle for the record changes pace: "Things could be a lot, lot worse," said MacArthur. "If someone had told me I was going to be 4 days ahead at Cape Horn, I would have thought they were mad. But that time buffer has proven very useful in dealing with the complicated weather of the South Atlantic - if we had not had that advantage, things would be a lot worse now." Yesterday Ellen sent back an email from onboard <> dealing with the current situation: "I seem to have found some kind of inner peace tonight, and though today has been a very hot and little restful day, I feel surprisingly good. The weather could not be worse for the record, as I sit here we're sailing at 4 knots. But we have what we have, we cannot alter the weather...." To read Ellen's email sent back yesterday, click here http://www.teamellen.com/ellen.asp?artid=2161 . There is still every chance that MacArthur can still break the 72 day, 22 hour, 54 minute record of Joyon's, but it is looking harder to do with every position report. The 'race' just restarted at zero, but the wind is not letting <> get out of first gear - for now. WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT: Cold front is stalling just S and SW of Ellen tonight. This is unusually far north for South Atlantic cold fronts this time of year. High pressure provides the pressure gradient for Trade Winds. The cold front has weakened and pushed the South Atlantic high far to the SE. The lack of high pressure is producing abnormally light Trade Winds for Ellen today and Tuesday. Trade Winds may strengthen the 2nd half of this week, which will allow Ellen to increase her speed northward, but until then the Trade Winds will be indexly N and NE at a few kts only. Wind forecasts Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC Mon, Jan 24 09: 320-350/ 6-10 12: 330-360/ 6-9, near 17 40s/28 30w - 18: 340-010/ 4-7 - back on starboard when winds are consistently right of 360 Fair to partly cloudy into Fri. Tue, Jan 25- want to be as far east as possible at 15s 00: 020-050/ 6-10 06: 030-050/ 7-11 12: 030-040/ 8-12, near 14 45s/28w 18: 020-050/ 8-12 http://www.commandersweather.com PARTNER OF THE DAY : THE DERBYSHIRE Derbyshire Building Society banking partner to the Ellen MacArthur Trust 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 Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE