Ellen Eviscerates Equator Record: Round 1 (or Leg 1, from the Channel to the Equator) goes to Mme. MacArthur. She crossed The Line last night, 8 days, 18 hours and 20 minutes after setting out, setting a new solo record and besting Francis Joyon by about 14 hours. Half a day into Leg 2 (Equator to the Southern Ocean) now, Ellen still has an 11 hour lead on Joyon, and she’ll need very bit of it as she works her way around the St. Helena high to get to the Roaring Forties. Right now the high does not look like a major obstacle, but during his circumnavigation Joyon sailed this leg at high speed and on an unusually direct route. Here’s Ellen’s assessment of the situation ahead:

“At the moment, the St Helena high is looking like there may be a corridor between it and the low pressure developing off the Brazilian coast. It’s going to be actually quite difficult to sit between the high and the low because if we go to far south, and go behind the front of the low the sea conditions will be terrible and there will be no wind, and if we go into the north into the high we will lose the wind completely and we won’t be able to stay in the gap, so timing is going to be absolutely crucial. It may pay off, it may not, but we don’t really have any choice – we’ve got to go through that gap and we’ve got to hope we make it so it’s going to be very, very important to get the timing right and get the boat sailing as fast as I possibly can to get through that gap to spit us out into the Southern Ocean.”

If this works out Ellen should be in the Southern Ocean spitoon early next week, and chasing after the Vendee Globe sailors…



Ellen’s Ahead: “All I know is that I’ve been going like a rocket ever since I started sailing in my underwear. Not sure how this will work out in the Southern Ocean, though…”