JV Jumble–Just Another Day At The Office: Ho-hum. Now, we’ve got both Geronimo and Cheyenne clocking up 500-plus mile days (Cheyenne did 557 and Geronimo ran off 517). Thanks to sailing more than 1000 miles in two days, Geronimo is finally about 92 miles ahead of Orange 2002’s pace, and has also snuck ahead of Cheyenne’s position at the same point in her voyage. De Kersauson still has a lot of work to do, though. Halfway around the bottom of the world, Cheyenne is now about five days and 2200 miles ahead of Orange 2002 (chart here) and working her way north to get out of the way of a big Southern Ocean depression that is barreling towards her to the south. Are the crewed worried? No. Are they having a blast? Well, here’s Justin Slattery on what he’s feeling:

“My last watch was probably the most fun watch I’ve had so far. Two hrs into our watch Jack Vincent my watch leader (and seven times around the world veteran of Volvo’s, Whitbread’s, Jules Verne attempts – you name it!) passed the helm over to me at a heading of 75 degrees, just north of east at a speed of 30 kts. For the next hour and a half I drove at speeds of between 27 and 34.6 kts, Cheyenne just seemed to be loving the conditions surfing from one wave to the next in 25 to 27 kts of wind at 130 degrees true wind angle with solent and one reef in the main. Hard to describe the feeling!”

Fearful (and Fuzzy) Fossett: “Everyone off their asses and back to work! Can’t…let…De Kersauson…catch…us…”

(Photo: Nick Leggatt)