This is getting ridiculous. Bruno Peyron and Orange II are only 2 days into their non-stop record run and they are already 1200 miles down the track. If they keep this up they’ll smash the Ushant-Equator record of 6 days, 11 hours by about a million hours. During the first day the big cat was cruising along between 28 and 35 knots all the time. It’s hard to even imagine what that must feel like. Since then, she’s slowed down to ONLY 20-25 knots. Believe it or not, I bet the crew feels like they are just crawling along at that speed, which tells you how quickly you get used to–and start to expect–ridiculous speeds in these big multihulls. Anyhow, they’re kicking Cheyenne’s butt for the moment, and you can check out the comparative courses, as well as get all Orange II’s nav data on this handy dandy page (I may find it annoying that I can’t rip photos from Orange II’s site, but I have to admit that it’s chock full of great info…).
They’re not exactly on a collision course, but about 3000 miles south Ellen MacArthur is heading north for a combined closing speed of about 50 knots. The southeast trades have finally kicked in for Bic Mac, and they are stronger than forecast which has put her back ahead of Francis Joyon by a meager 68 miles. Forecasting technology these days is incredible but you never know exactly what you are going to have for wind unless you are actually there. Ellen will need a little more of that because the forecast ahead still isn’t so great, and Joyon had a very fast passage of the Equator and virtually non-existent Doldrums. Here’s Ellen’s latest take:
“I think I am dealing with it okay, trying to be philosophical and having some sleep really does help on that front. But it is just the unknown – I am just so nervous about what’s going to break, what’s going to go wrong, are we going to get through the Doldrums, what are we going to be dealt in the northern hemisphere, is it going to be an 80 knot storm that Britain has been hit by so many times before, or are we going to run into a high pressure – we just don’t know what’s going to happen. There are so many unknowns and we are getting closer to the finish – its literally just a case of 14 days and then its all over whether I’ve broken the record or not. I’ve just got to do the best I can in that time and I feel pretty nervous about that.
I just want to feel like we’re going home and, right now, we’re still three days away from the Equator. To take four days longer than Joyon in the South Atlantic is just terrible. I keep telling myself it’s not over, we only need to break the record by a second, you know, we’ve just got to hang in there and do the best we can with the weather we’ve got. Hopefully, if we don’t hit too many hurdles, we’re still in with a chance…
I’ve put everything in – my heart, my soul, my flesh, my blood, just everything. I’ve never pushed this hard, I’ve never driven myself so hard, I’ve never got so close to the edge for so long – never, ever. And it’s not through choice, its just through pushing so hard and the changeable conditions and the demands of a boat like this. It’s been a real rollercoaster – I really had to grunt up, and it’s not over yet, we’re not there yet. When we get north of the Doldrums, I’ll start to feel happier, I think. It will start to get cooler and we should have some relative concentrated north-east Trade Winds, even if they are not that strong, it should be relatively fast sailing and if we can have that and get some miles in to the finish… We’ve just got to do the best we can.”
I guess she’d better break the record, because it’s hard to imagine going through this again…
B&Q Struggles In The South Atlantic: “Pretend I’m on holiday, pretend I’m on holiday…”
(Photo: Royal Navy)
The Earthist Chronicles 