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Brian Thompson's Day 22 (Saturday night) Report Feb 28: Miles, Stars and Finback Whales

Feb 28: "More good progress on Cheyenne as we covered 573 miles in 24 hours yesterday (Day 21). This is our best day's run of the voyage so far and would have been a world record just 4 years ago, but now is just an above average day in the Southern Ocean.

Anything over 600 is exceptionally good here, and of course the outright world record has been pushed up to the 694 we achieved on Maiden II in June 2002. That was a dedicated speed run whilst this is a long passage where we have to preserve the boat and remain focused on the correct heading for staying in the weather, so little chance of the 24 hour record for us. However we do hope for a 600 mile day, probably in the Pacific Ocean where Orange had 2 days over that number (2002) and Club Med did a day of over 650 during The Race (2001).

The next 2 days are going to be more downwind for us as the new westerly wind will be forcing us to gybe along the track between 45S and 50S, so our daily runs will go down even though our boat speed might be near 25 knots.

Last night was an exceptional night in the Southern Ocean, clear skies gave our first real look at the stars since we left the tropics, and it was a little disorientating to see how much they had moved in the past week. The Southern Cross is almost overhead whereas it was low on the horizon before. Orion is to the north of us instead of to the south.

The Milky Way was very bright and stretched out behind us like a boat wake from our masthead, mirroring the twin wakes of phosphorescence streaming off our hulls. The Clouds of Magellan - which look like patches of the Milky Way that have broken off - were very clear.

Around 2 am local we could see a glow to the south, we were not sure what it was at first, it looked like a distant city glow, but then realized it was the reflection of the sunrise on the Antarctic icecap, probably 3000 miles away to where the sun was hitting the ice.

Today we were followed by a finback whale for about one mile, it was incredible as we were doing 25 knots at the time and it could keep up with us. To see it rising to the surface to breathe every 30 seconds and to see the wake blasting past its body was amazing.

- Brian"

Saturday afternoon - 9 hours into Day 22

Cheyenne continues chasing miles

Avg 23.4 kts since this morning on port gybe

End Day 21: Strong Sailing Eastbound in Excellent Conditions

573 miles for best 24 hour run yet; avg 23.87 kts

Cheyenne pulls out 944 mile lead on 2002 RTW track

"Still perfect sailing conditions as we track east - keeping pace with a high pressure system to our north which is allowing us to sail in relatively light winds and seas for this latitude. It's a balance between the lesser distance and the normally worse conditions further south. Now we are having our cake and eating it too, having the benign conditions close to the high whilst being south and sailing fewer miles."

Todays Picture: a tired looking nightwatch - Guillermo resting after helming for an hour
Whirley on the helm, Mark on the main traveller and
Dave on the reacher sheet. © Nick Leggatt 2004

Jacques Vincent - son reportage sur Jour 21

28 Fev 04: "Bonjour - Les jours passent ...et se ressemblent, ce qui est rare dans le sud de l'Ocean Indien. Mais grace a nos belles moyennes nous sommes toujours dans le meme systeme meteo a un endroit bien privilegie: dans le sud d'un anticyclone avec des vent d'WNW de 22 noeuds. Deriere nous il y a une enorme depression ralentie par son obesite et devant nous une depression guere plus veloce. On en profite pour faire des miles faciles et eventuellement on se fera rattrapper par un front.

Nous sommes babord amure et nous envisageons un petit plongeon dans le sud avec un empanage qui nous eloignera un peu de l'anticyclone, car les 30 tonnes de Cheyenne ne sauraient se contenter d'un vingtaine de noeuds de vent; ca va dans les alizees mais ici on merite 25 -30 noeuds, alors autant aller les chercher.

Ciao - Cheyenne 47 S 60 E fev 28 a 9h - Jac"

Brian Thompson reports on penguins, seals, staying South and maintenance

Friday 27 Feb p.m. - Day 21: "I've just come off watch, and it's pretty cold out there, it started at 4 degrees C even though the sun is shining. We are at the same latitude as the Channel Islands, UK, and the date equivalent of the 27th of August in the Northern Hemisphere. There are not many days in St Helier where it is 4 degrees in the middle of a sunny August day...

Maybe that's why we saw two penguins this watch, leaping out of our path, and a lone seal watched our progress as we flashed by at 25 knots. We also saw a big clump of seaweed probably blown off some wave lashed rocks on Prince Edward Island. It was a big enough clump to have slowed us down significantly. As we approach the Kergeulans we will most likely see more of these and may have to go into irons and make sternway to clear the rudders and dagger boards if we get caught by a patch.

On the good side we have not seen any more icebergs since yesterday, and we got through the night at full speed but paying careful attention to the radar. We also used an infra red camera that looks like a video camera but sees in the infra red spectrum, distinguishing between hot and cold objects. We have used this camera before in the Labrador Current of the North Atlantic and been able to pick up bergs at night almost as easily as in the day time with the naked eye.

Still perfect sailing conditions as we track east, we are keeping pace with a high pressure system to our north which is allowing us to sail in relatively light winds and seas for this latitude. As we are encircling the globe, the further south we track, the fewer miles we have to sail. It's a balance between the lesser distance and the normally worse conditions further south. Now we are having our cake and eating it too, having the benign conditions close to the high whilst being south and sailing fewer miles. It seems from the latest weather report that we are actually overtaking the high and will have to gybe away in 36 hours to avoid the light air at its centre. We should be close to the Kergeulans at that point.

On the everlasting maintenance front, we have found a hairline crack in our gennaker halyard turning block which is part of the mast base unit. This is a massive welded aluminium structure, but obviously the stress is too much for the welds. We are backing up the cheeks of the sheave with a batten passing through the sheave axis, that will be lashed down with several Spanish windlasses. This should be ok, and if not we do have two spare sheaves in the mast base that we could potentially use, though it would not be an ideal lead. Our Kiwi boat building maestro Mike is leading this operation with help from Damian and Fraser.

Still pulling the miles out on the record holder Orange as we enjoy these fast conditions - this morning we were 784 miles ahead of their position and, fingers crossed, we should make some more gains in the days to come. Everyone is in good spirits and enjoying this great sailing.

- Brian"

Moose (Mike) making repairs to the gennaker halyard turning block at the base of the mast.
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Friday Evening - Report 1/2 - way through Day 21

Fossett and team keep the wick turned up driving East

571 nm logged over the past 24 hrs

Cheyenne increases lead vs 2002 RTW record track to over 850 nm

Jac's Watch: Fraser on the helm, Mike on the traveller and Justin on the reacher sheet.
The temperature on deck is about 6°C not counting the wind chill factor from a 20 knot breeze.
© Jacques Vincent 2004

End Day 20: Cheyenne powering eastwards

780+ nm ahead of 2002 RTW record position

564 miles past 24 hours avg 23.5 kts

Brian Thompson reports on Thursday's iceberg encounters

Thurs (pm) 26 Feb: "Today we saw our first iceberg, passing about 3 miles down our leeward side to the south of us. It looked a couple of hundred yards long and not too tall, as you could see the spray breaking over the top.

An hour later we saw our second one, about 3 times the size and brilliant white in colour. This one looked like the size and shape of a car carrier ship, but one that was 'not under command'. It was a beautiful sight, the only solid surface we have seen since Ushant. Naturally there is a certain level of risk with their presence, and the more numerous they are the greater that is. Fortunately we are right at the northern edge of their limits at the Antarctic Convergence Zone, which is the limit of the cold water from the frozen continent. It is in fact unusual to see them in this location, according to our weather routers in the US. During the following 8 hours we have not seen any others.

This one showed up at 7 mile range on the radar and passed the same distance to leeward. If there are any loose bits of ice they are generally to leeward of the berg so we were clear of these. Now it is night we are paying very close attention to the radar, we will only have 15 minutes warning of any target, just enough time to furl the blast reacher and head above it, or to bear away and try to pass further to leeward.

There seems to be little tracking of these individual bergs as there is in the N. Atlantic in the Labrador current, presumably due to the vast area and the scarcity of vessels passing through these waters. There was a report of some ice from the US navy at 50S and 25 W, well to the S and W of us. Most of the anecdotal data that does exist from previous races and passages through these latitudes suggests that as we head east the risk diminishes, in this ocean at least.

Sailing conditions are still perfect with 20 knots of wind propelling us east at 25 knots. Up ahead we have the Kergeulan Islands, which are on our route. There is a large bank of shallower water around this area with a lot of kelp and the potentially rougher seas. So we are going to have to decide tomorrow, in the light of the latest weather, which side of them to pass. They are now 1300 miles ahead.

Today we dropped the blast reacher for a while to shorten the luff rope, which has been stretching since the start of the trip. Justin and Fraser were working on this project.

Otherwise all good, and as Jacques said, this is all gravy and very unusual for here. Damian was here on Kingfisher 2 last year and was under storm spinnaker and 2 or 3 reefs, with big seas. We are gliding along under full sail with low stress on the boat and the crew... - Brian"
www.brianthompsonsailing.com

Day 20 Evening Report

First Icebergs Observed

Steve: "Maybe we have gone far enough South for the time being!"

537 miles logged over past 24 hours

"We got a close look at our first icebergs of the trip this morning. This one is at 3 miles. Maybe we have gone far enough South for the time being!

These full sized icebergs should be easy to avoid hitting. The danger are the growlers - which are chunks of ice of mere 'truck' size. If we hit one it would be -- well, catastophic. The theory is that growlers will be found up to 3 miles downwind of an iceberg. This means we must divert course to assure that we pass upwind of icebergs. We have tuned up the Radar for constant monitoring at nighttime.

The winds are bit better to the South but we are pleased with our progress and we must not get greedy. - Steve"

First iceberg this trip | © Nick Leggatt 2004

"They should be looking at good winds for the next 4 or 5 days, moving them across the Southern Indian Ocean very quickly. The breeze will back a little on Friday and they'll need to make a decision then whether to push further South or to go a bit to the North - where the winds may get a little lighter."

Watch Captain Jacques Vincent
Jeudi 26 fev:

"Bonjour. Qui a mis des glacons dans l'eau? Le premier iceberg du voyage attire toujours des regards admiratifs , le second n'aura certainement pas le meme accueil. On a change l'heure du bord et on perd 4 h d'un coup , Le cure du village n'avait jamais vu ca ! Mais la population a bord de Cheynne est plutot favorable a ce changement. Fini les diner a 16h et au lit apres.

Cote tactique , la temperature exterieure a atteint un niveau acceptable de 7 degre et nous allons en rester la en suivant le 48 parallele sud. Nous avons roule le petit genaker et renvoye le solent, qui est maintenant sur "mousquetons spectra" et drisse car l'enrouleur est en morceaux, pour loffer de 20 degre cap a l'Est, toujours en route vers le Cap Horn.

Cheyenne jeudi 26 a 12h "locale" par 48 sud et 31 est - jac"

Watch Captain Brian Thompson
Thursday 26 February - Day 20:

"Another night passed in the Southern Ocean and an easy one; about 16 knots of breeze from the NW, big swell from the stern and making 20-25 knots of boat speed towards the East. The cockpit was dry and we could see stars occasionally through the clouds. The moon is waxing, so as we approach Australia we should have more light for our night watches.

It is starting to get cold as we approach 50S so hats, balaclavas and gloves are de rigeur. A bonus of this part of the trip is that chocolate bars have appeared on the menu, so we get a midnight snack of a Mars bar to go with our hot drinks.

It still looks like great winds for the next days so we are going to make the miles whilst it is smooth sailing. We have full main and solent now and the wind is creeping up to 20 knots. We expect a gradual build of the breeze during the day so as long as the sea state remains manageable, so we are not hitting the beams on the tops of the waves, we will be able to pick up our boat speed.

- Brian"

24 Feb 2004: Cheyenne Watch Captain David Scully describes Monday's tremendous repair effort:

"I hardly know where to begin. Readers may have noticed my absence from pages of this website lately. I was occupied with keeping the rig up.

The situation started at 23.30 the night before last (ed. - Sunday night), when Ado woke me to help with the gybe. I got to the bow to find the headstay flopping like a washing line, the rig supported by the luff tension of the solent. Bit of a shocker. There were a couple of logical explanations, none of which made sense. Justin leaped into the rigging and stabilised the situation by lashing a couple of strong lines to the hounds. Then we waited for daybreak.

It seemed incredible to me that the stay had broken. It is new 40mm steel wire, and had not been subjected to extraordinary stress. Equally incredible was the idea that the swage fitting had pulled out. The most likely, though not obvious solution, was that something had gone wrong inside the furling unit. To access this, we had to unroll the sail.

Not an easy job, with a big catenary (sag) in the stay, and the boat pitching as it pursued a 20kt course eastward. Damian was up the rig at the hounds, Justin and I were at the tack fitting, and the rest of the crew were on sheets and furling lines. We unrolled it a turn, then another. Justin turned to me and said: "I think this is going to work!" Just then there was an almighty crash, and the sail, still mostly wrapped around the carbon fibre headfoil, fell into the netting.

I looked around, counting the survivors. Miraculously, everyone was still standing. The sail, trailing the wire forestay, was flailing around, half on the tramp, half in the air. It was obvious that our worst fears were confirmed. The forestay had broken, and we were out of the running.

The first job was to get the sail on deck. All hands hauled at it, sliding it off the wire core. Grudgingly, it gave way. Now we had a 38m length of 40mm wire rope weighing 5kg a meter, sweeping the deck from its terminal at the hounds. The wire had pulled out of the terminal.

When the terminal was last changed, it had taken a couple of riggers a couple of days and some big wrenches to do the job in a fully equipped workshop, but we had the pieces, and a mast that needed support whether we ended up in Cape Town or not, so we set to work to replace the terminal. While Jacques, Justin, and myself struggled to work in the end of the flailing cable, the rest of the crew somehow removed the broken headfoil, and got the sail neatly folded.

A couple of hours later, the terminal was on, even to the satisfaction of rigger Jacques. Then, using several cable falls, we moved the lower end from the beam to the bow, attached the lower unit, and slammed in the lower pin.

Job two thirds done. Now we had to get it tight. At first it came easily, but by the end we could only get turns on during good surfs. We would wait for the bows to fall off a wave, the rig to rock forward, give a heave on the wrench handle, and wait for the next wave.

By late afternoon we were gybed, and headed south-east, any thought of hotel rooms and hot showers in Cape Town gone from our minds. This was a magnificent effort by an incredible crew. Having dealt with this, it is hard to imagine a situation to which they would not be equal. And we still made a 460 mile day!"

Yachting World, 24 February 2004

End Day 19: Fast cruising in the inside lane

Cheyenne currently 1-1/2 days ahead of Orange's 2002 record track as Geronimo and Orange II re- start at Ouessant

Dave | © Nick Leggatt 2004

Watch Captain Jacques Vincent - la reparation du cable:

"Ce qui nous est arrive est assez incroyable. L'avarie etait de taille et on aurait dit que Cape Town etait la sur notre route pour nous accueillir. Mais nous n'avons pas ecouter les sirenes d'Afrique du Sud et on s'est mis en tete en depit du bon sens qu'on pouvait peu etre reparer un etai en cable de 22 mm! Et allons y qu'au petit jour, apres avoir assurer le mat pendant la nuit, nous entreprenons le grand demontage car l'etai est noye sous l'enrouleur et le foc. Nos deux Irlandais se sont relayes en haut du mat et sont nos vrais heros. La reparation du cable etait en fait assez simple, bien que jusqu'au bout on a travaille sans se poser de questions tellement ca paraissait impossible de reparer.

En tout cas quelle satisfaction de ne pas avoir abandonner, c'est vraiment un cadeau de noel d'etre de nouveau en course, en mer. Quel travaille d'equipe, cote moral on se sent invincibles!!! Steve n'a pas quiter son regard impassible et neutre mais il a dit quelques mots qui montraient qu'il etait content et qu'il avait choisi un bon equipage ...il a aussi ajoute: "At sea it is easy, you can stop and repair. Up in the air you just die" C'est sur.

Mais le mystere reste entier, pourquoi le cable a t il glisse de son embout laissant un cone quasiment intact ? Depuis la reparation de l'etai bien des miles ont ete parcourus, et d'autres "exercices" de maintenance ont ete fait (charriot de latte, deuxieme!) Mais l'important c'est que le bateau chante, lorsque l'allure est bonne, les safrans vibrent d'une douce melodie. Nous deja tres Sud pour eviter les calmes d'un anticyclone de l'Ocean Indien, il fait assez froid, la houle est longue et confortable.

mercredi 25 fev - 21h - 47S 25E - Jac"

David Scully writes on Wednesday 25th Feb:

"How to stay warm is the latest topic of conversation. Although I awoke to bright sunshine, the temperature has dropped to 5 deg C, and the wind chill is bitter. We are reaching east along lat 48 south, and as much as you remind yourself that this is no further south than say, La Rochelle is north, it feels a lot colder.

We are looking forward to four or five days of fast sailing, as we chase a high pressure system that is passing to the north of us. The consistent winds will help us make short work of the Indian Ocean, the most hazardous part of the trip. Hauling up the solent is a very warming activity. We miss the roller furling already!

It is a great experience to be back in the Southern Ocean. The incredible power of the weather here is like a thinly veiled threat of which we are constantly aware, and yet there is peace in the slow arc of the albatross' glide, and in the endless swell of the sea. As sailors, we are closer to the elemental force of our environment in this place, than we are anywhere else.

It is one thirty in the morning, cold as a steel bar. Gizmo (Guillermo) is in the galley, singing to the helm station over the VHF. Jacques' watch has the con, and my watch, on standby, is huddled into the warmest corners to be found. In a few minutes, we hit the deck to hoist the solent, to enable us to direct our course more to the east. The closer angle to the wind will pay a boat speed dividend, but cost us in comfort, as icy spray will be added to the icy wind. The faster we go, the sooner we will get to turn north."

Brian Thompson writes on Day 19:

25 February 2004 (morning): "We have just passed the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope having travelled from Ushant in just under 18 days, putting us 450 miles ahead of Orange at the same line. We are all very pleased with that, considering all the repairs we have done since entering the Southern Ocean. I estimate that we lost 150 miles in the forestay incident, but we were so close to losing our chance to finish the trip that I cannot complain about that at all.

The weather is looking good downstream for us and we are looking at a series of 500 mile days if all goes well with the boat, so we anticipate being able to catch up some more miles in the next week. Orange had a very good run in the Pacific Ocean, so having something in the bank is going to be useful.

Just a few more hours on this starboard gybe that is taking us south east, and we will be gybing on to port and getting in good winds to push us east for the next 5 days. So far we have gone south from 39S to 47S and expect to be running along the line of 48S after the gybe.

The seas are quite awkward at present as our course is changing with the shifting wind so that we are heading up into them.. After the gybe the waves will be behind us and the ride is going to smooth out, and the stresses on the boat will diminish.

... stop ...

It is now 6pm, we have gybed and are heading east now at 20-25 knots, we had some good sunshine during the day but now the clouds have rolled in as the first sign of the depression coming up behind us. We should have great winds of 20-25 knots for the next few days, so some big mileages if all goes well.

During the day we had to drop the main to the deck to repair a broken batten car, in fact the same one we had to repair in the Atlantic. We were a little slicker this time and had it up and down in 45 minutes. Maybe tomorrow we will have a day free from repairs, we can but hope!

All for now, its time to go and drive!

- Brian"

Day 19 Evening: Heading East

Cheyenne covers 447 nm over past 24 hrs

crew working to repair a broken batten car
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Cheyenne's star photographer Nick Leggatt (ZA) celebrates his 37th birthday (Tueday 24 February).
All greetings will be forwarded.
© Mark Featherstone 2004

Brian Thompson's reports for Days 15, 16 and 17:

Days 15 - 16 - Sunday & Monday 22 & 23 February 2004: "Out here at 41 South we had a great days run of 566 miles, putting us approximately 440 miles ahead of Orange 1. Winds of between 25-30 knots speeded us east, and being relatively close to the high, the sea state has been quite flat. If we keep us this speed we will stay ahead of Orange to the Cape longitude and become the 2nd fastest Ushant to Cape of Good Hope passage. The record was set by Geronimo last year at 16.5 days. We are set for an 18 day trip, and with good winds now, we are making up for our slow trip from the start down to the Canaries.

The day was not without incident, we spent 3 hours last night without any instruments when a junction box appeared to have shorted, blowing up the power supply to the instruments. There is so much humidity on board that water is leaking down the wiring into the boxes. This happened at the worst time, in the dark and fog as we were charging along at over 30 knots. I was driving for much of the time and it was an interesting change from 8 instrument displays to one compass, Mike got out the handheld GPS for occasional speed readings. Dave, Adrienne and Nick put in great work to find and solve the problem, isolating the displays that were shorting, and replacing the power supply with one from the computers. We still kept good course and speed through the period but in the long run the instruments are invaluable and it was relief all round when the problem was dealt with. It's unlikely we have seen the last of the electrical gremlins however, as the damp and vibration creeps into every part of the circuits on board.

We made several sail changes, going to one reef then solent, then spinnaker at dawn and later back to blast reacher as the wind dropped a little. That was our first hoisting of the spinnaker this trip and we took it carefully as it is a new sail to the boat. The sail is a little bigger than the solent but being fuller and sheeted to the leeward hull it allows you to go very eep downwind. It is really needs 30 knots of wind to work properly, as at that wind speed the apparent wind has come aft enough to stop it from collapsing at the luff.

When the spinnaker was up Justin made his now daily ascent to the top of the mast to adjust the strop on the gennaker dead end and to change the Windex light bulb. Although we kept the motion as quiet as we could he had to work hard to hang on during the descent.

We had a close look at a pair of killer whales, as they dived under our bows. Fortunately our rudders make a continuous loud humming; turning to a scream at over 25 knots and this we hope gives them warning of our arrival. Right after the killer whales we saw a group of 3 humpbacks surrounded by a flock of petrels.

Today was a big day for our ornithologist as we saw 3 out of the approx 17 different species of albatross, the wandering, yellow nosed and sooty albatross, and also the white chinned petrel, great shearwater, little shearwater, common diving petrel, giant petrel, white bellied storm petrel and the Antarctic skua.

This was my first view of the albatross at home in the Southern Ocean and they are a magnificent sight. None got too close and I am looking forward to seeing them up close over the next 3 or so weeks to Cape Horn.

We are looking at another good days run of over 500 miles today, and a gybe coming up sometime tonight to start taking us south around a high pressure that will be blocking our path on this latitude at around 30E.

Day 17 - Tuesday, 24 February 2004: It has been an incredibly busy 36 hours since the forestay broke. The effort to fix the problem and get sailing again has been remarkable and shows the depth of talent and commitment in the crew to complete this course. For a while it was looking like we were going to have to stop in Cape Town, which was a depressing thought for all of us, especially as we are doing so well on the record.

Fortunately, every job went well despite the rough conditions, there were so many places in the operation that were absolutely critical and one false move or one dropped part and it would have been all over for the record. We are now sailing with one reef and solent, the solent now being lashed on to the wire forestay.

We are all pretty exhausted from the constant effort, and now have to shift focus on to sailing well and getting some rest before the next challenge.. This is going to be an episode that we will all remember as an amazing feat of onboard repair.

I have to go on watch now, will write more later. - Brian"

End Day 18: Fossett and Cheyenne cross Cape of Good Hope this morning

Ushant - Cape: 17 days 23 hrs 29 mins

430 nm ahead of Orange 2002

Cape of Good Hope

Prince Edward Island

Day 18 Evening Report: Cheyenne chewing up the miles again

527 nm over past 24 hrs - avg speed 21.95 kts

Expect to cross Cape of Good Hope Wednesday a.m.

"Winds are still excellent, but it is important that they keep getting South over the next 18-24 hrs - to manage the area of High Pressure coming SE from the Cape and get to the best wind. The sweet spot will be at between 47 and 48 degrees S. If they can get there, they'll be cooking - and should really bomb eastwards for the next 3 days at least."

End Day 17 Good Progress - Even Under Repair

Cheyenne covers 457 nm past 24 hrs

430+ nm Ahead of Orange 2002 RTW Track

"Today has been a happy surprise. I thought for a while we were out of business, but we kept going. While under repair, at first we used just the Staysail, then later when we were more confident we put up the Blast Reacher. The repaired Forestay is supporting at original strength, although we can no longer put the Solent on the roller furler, so we'll need to hoist it now."

Moose (Mike Beasley) and Whirley (Paul van Dyke) survey the damage after the forestay came adrift © Nick Leggatt 2004

The Night Watch Dave, Gizmo and Whirley © Nick Leggatt 2004

Jacques Vincent ecrit en francais (lundi soir a 22h):

"Grosse journee bricolage. ca a commence hier soir, juste avant d'empanner on s'appercoit que l'etai avant de solent est tout mou,en fait apres examen on conclut que c'est juste le guindant de la voile qui tient etai et enrouleur, on marche sur des oeufs !!!Justin monte au mat mettre des secu, l'empanage est annule et on attend le jour pour en savoir plus. En attendant on se demande si c'est pas la fin du voyage....au petit jour on a confirmation que l'etai est casse en bas, un cable de 22 mmm qui a glisee de son embout . Le demontage de tout ca est laborieux et a midi on a enfin tout les morceaux en bas sauf un cable (l'etai) toujours solidement fixe en haut sur le mat , mais qui pendouille et qu'il faut maitriser pour refaire la conection sur l'embout norseman. Heureusement on peut reutiliser le cone interieur mais c'est une bataille. A 16h tout est remis en place a part l'enrouleur hord d'etat et on a remis la vapeur enroute vers le cap. Les albatros planent autour de nous, 2 orques poursuivaient une malheureuse baleine, il y a de la vie sur cet ocean.

cheyenne 41 S 5 E a 22h lundi 23 - Jac"

© Stuart Radnofsky

1710 GMT Evening Day 17: 'Running Repairs!'

Forestay Re-attached as 16 Hour Repair Salvages RTW Record Attempt

Fossett and Cheyenne Back at Speed and On Course

"The crew of Cheyenne has reconnected the Forestay. Cheyenne has gybed to the Southwest and is continuing its attempt to break the Round the World Sailing Record.

The forestay cable, which supports the mast, pulled out of its end fitting. None of us on board has ever seen this fitting fail before. The repair process took over 16 hours and was accomplished using hand tools - where this type of work is usually done in a rigging shop with specialized heavy equipment.

This is defining of the most professional distance sailors. They can fix things at sea where normally we would have to retire to the nearest port. Despite meticulous preparation, these high performance multihulls cannot be expected to make it Round the World without mandatory repairs at sea.

- Steve Fossett, Skipper"

End Day 16: Fossett and Cheyenne suffer major rigging incident

Forestay disconnected or broken

Repairs being attempted, but RTW attempt jeopardized

Skipper Steve Fossett:

"The mast forestay is broken or otherwise disconnected. The forestay is the primary support for holding up the mast. Fortunately this was discovered while preparing for a midnight gybe to the south and the rig was not lost.

We recognize that our attempt may be finished, but the crew is gamely trying to find a solution. The mast has now been secured with spare halyards but this configuration is only strong enough for moderate downwind sailing. We actually cannot see the forestay because it is inside the roller foils and the furled solent. Next step is to remove the Solent and lower the Forestay/Furling apparatus to the trampoline. The best case is that a fitting has come unscrewed and the forestay can be reconnected. Hope is slim.

We are sailing downwind toward Cape Town less than 1,000 miles away. We should know by the end of the day on Monday if we must retire from the Round the World Record attempt."

Dave Scully Writes on Sunday Night

Wet and wild... Spinakers, Orcas and the Starboard Jibe

22 February: It has been a 24 hours riddled with adventure here south of Gough Island. Yesterday we saw the first albatross. Shortly after that, the instrument system shut down. I traced the problem to a shorted power converter, and was able to get them going again, but not before the the drivers had experrienced the thrill of scorching along at 30 kts. for several hours with no instrument info. It was a real test, and a credit to their skill that they were able to keep the foot to the floor and achieve our best daily run yet, about 580 miles.

This morning we tried the spinaker. There was not quite enough wind for it in 25-28 kts., but we can see that this wll be a great sail when the wind picks up. We were taking it down when two Orcas leaped out of the water ahead of the bow. Nic called for a quick left turn, and as he did so, two right whales sounded close by the port beam!

It is wet and wild down here. We are averaging 24 kts., heading roughly for Capetown. As the wind continues to back, we will jibe, and take another bite south. The Stbd jibe should hold for 4 days, allowing us to get deep int the high latitudes.

Day 16 Evening

Eastbound - and still going fast

Cheyenne posts 578 nm over past 24 hrs

End Day 15: Quite a Weekend Drive to the Cape...

566 miles - average 23.6 kts over past 24 hours

Cheyenne piles on the miles as Fossett and crew face wind, sea - and some electrical challenges

Now 438 nm ahead of Orange's 2002 position

"Our sailing instrumentation system shorted out at 5 pm this afternoon. All we had left was a compass and the wind vane at the top of the mast -- just like what sailors of old had. In modern sailing we have become dependent on an arsenal of information including wind speed, direction, boat speed, wind angles and more. In fact I can't imagine the handicaps of sailing in the Southern Ocean and competing for the record without instruments. Some of the crew gamely said we could.

Fortunately, solutions were found. Adrienne and Nick found the source of shorting and sealed the wet connections. Dave Scully replaced the destroyed power converter by wiring in my little laptop converter. It was a six hour project - but what a relief the repairs could be made and our attempt is not jeopardized."

About Gough Island

Jacques Vincent - Samedi: Jour 15

"Du jour au lendemain nous sommes entres au pays des merveilles. pour l'instant un brouillard epais nous enveloppe. Bottes, cires et harnais nous font regretter les tropiques.

Le barometre chute, nous avons bien contourne l'anticyclone de St Helene et nous sommes dans le couloir de vent entre les hautes pressions et la meute de depressions qui gravite autour de l'antarctique. Nous faisons cap a l'est, ca va vite, 30 noeuds de vent du NW et une belle houle encore un peu jeune pour faire de grands surf.

Une petite panne d'electronique nous a oblige , de nuit , a naviguer au compas et au gps portable le temps de la reparation. Nous sommes maintenant avec 1 ris et solent.

Cheyennne 41 S 15 W - Jac"

Jacques Vincent tending the gantline
(with Justin Slattery aloft) on a foggy day
© Nick Leggatt 2004