The Perils of Cheyenne–Flying Fish Attack: Steve Fossett and his crew are rocketing toward the finish and projecting a 58-day circumnavigation if the mast stays up, if the hulls stay pinned together, if the mainsail doesn’t split, if they don’t hit anything, if….you get the picture. Quick stats: 483 miles run last 24 hours, 2000 miles to go, 4 1/2 days ahead of Orange 2002. For now, the major threat is flying fish. Here’s watch captain Brian Thompson, on some sweet sailing:

“Last night was another good night, with the bonus of seeing the pole star, polaris, for the first time. It was almost on the bow, and a great reference to steer by. High above us, the moon was illuminating the boat brilliantly for most of the night, and will guide us in all the way to the finish now, getting bigger night by night. This moonlight did not help the flying fish who must have bad night vision. It was looking like a fish market and at dawn I threw out at least 20 from the leeward cockpit, and apparently the watches before also spent time clearing out the scuppers.

I saved a couple of the biggest ones for Nick to photograph, and on receiving them he proceeded to get out his knife and cut them up. I thought it might be out of scientific curiosity, but when the pressure cooker and tabasco sauce came out, it became clear he had suspicious culinary motives. In fact, I had some of the results, and they were delicious. It made a great change from the freeze dried food of the last 53 days.”

Cheyenne also raced close by a 40-foot cruising yacht doing about 25 knots. Surprised the hell out of the skipper, who popped his head up just as she flashed by….



“Steve? Steve? Please let me come down now. I promise I’ll never stink up the boat with flying fish casserole again…”

(Photo: Nick Leggatt)