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End Day 50 (+3 hrs, 3 mins): Cheyenne crosses Equator, heading for home

Fossett and crew log 543 nm over past 24 hours (avg 22.6 kts)

1645 miles (3 days) ahead of 2002 RTW record pace

Equator crossed 50 days, 3 hrs, 3 minutes after start at Ouessant - another new RTW segment record

Sailing in light winds in the Doldrums with Guillermo driving and Mark and Whirly in the cockpit.
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Jacques Vincent a L'Equateur:

Brian Thompson writes on the run up towards the Equator (from Friday night)

Friday 26 March - Day 49: "Roaring along in the trades tonight, the moon has set and the stars are guiding our way north. Occasional squalls move through but they are not too strong yet. It's another 350 miles to the doldrums, which we will reach this coming night. The wind is up and down in velocity, so we have made a few sail changes. We started with full main and solent, went to one reef and staysail, then to one reef and solent and now back to one reef and staysail again.

With the loss of the furler on the solent the changes take a little longer than usual on this boat, but are similar to the changes we have to do on the Ollier cats, so we have a good technique. There is less windage and weight aloft without the furler, so we will be gaining speed between the changes. The only concern is the size of the webbing hanks on the solent. They were designed more for emergency use rather than for sailing 3/4 of the way around the world...

Justin went up the rig for a check earlier today and all looked good. He may have another chance in the doldrums, but after that we will be beating in the NE trades and will not want to bear the boat away for a rig check. The motion on this boat up the rig is much worse than on a monohull so ideally the conditions have to be better than usual to go up, although it is not always possible to wait for them.

We are now past Salvador in Brazil and heading along the coast, we will pass abeam of Recife in about 3 hours. These are familiar waters for me after doing the mini Transat in 2001 and the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2003, both of which finish in Salvador. When you finish those races you are given huge platter of fresh fruit; papaya, water melon, pineapple, etc. It would taste really good this morning! To make up for it Damian has made up a blend of freeze-dried strawberries and soaked muesli with powdered milk.

I was looking back at our times for the various landmarks around the world and noticed a certain pattern. We did the start to Cape of Good Hope in just under 20 days, to New Zealand in just under 30, to Cape Horn in just under 40 days. It was looking like we could do the Equator in fewer than 50, but with the days spent drifting past Rio, we are looking to be just over that.

Our time for this section from the Horn to the Equator should still be just the fastest, slightly better than Orange but not quite as good as we had hoped. The South Atlantic really is the trickiest section of the RTW route, both going north or south, but particularly north. We will have been slowed 5 times in total; briefly in the lee of Cape Horn and again behind the Falklands, then light air beating north of the Falklands, then again off Rio, and soon the doldrums which are, unusually, in the South Atlantic at present.

Hopefully the North Atlantic will be more straightforward and we manage to keep moving the whole way. We are certainly going to have to take a longer than rhumb line route - but that is always to be expected. Getting caught in the Azores High will be the trapdoor we need to avoid. This is what put paid to Geronimo's chances of the record last year.

Anyway, there are a lot of miles to be sailed before then (3700 to the finish). I'm off on watch now and aim to make 100 miles in the next 4 hours. As Moose says, that will be 100 miles we won't have to do again.

Brian"

Day 49-1/2: Targeting the Equator

297 nm past 12 hours (24.8 kts avg speed)

278 miles from Equator

Probable crossing at O degrees latitude Sunday morning

David Scully puts things in perspective:

Friday 26 March - Saturday 27 March:

"The toilet seat is not going to make it.

I am sure it was designed by responsible engineers, who probably calculated test case loads of up to 100 kg. or so, based on static load, added a safety factor, and called it good. What they did not count on is the dynamic load of a seated body rising and falling through about 3 meters. The resultant compression on the seat when the dynamic force of the falling body is taken into account must exceed their wildest imaginings.

Ours, on the starboard side, started developing stress cracks in the Southern Ocean. As we charge up the southeast trades, the bows chopping the whitecaps like twin cleavers in the hands of a demon butcher, sitting on the toilet is a major feat. As the bow drops, one is suddenly weightless, suspended in space like an astronaut. Then the bow crashes into the trough, and gravity suddenly resumes its calling with interest, and one compresses into the circumference of the plastic ring separating flesh from raw porcelain.

We have, we hope, another five days of this punishing sailing, and the seat, well, it may join the cooking gas, the Mars bars, and the porridge on the list of things we will have to live without, unless Mike finds the time to have a go at it with some carbon fiber and paste.

This is the ultimate extreme sport, from which other sports can only borrow the name. Geographically, it takes us to the ends of the earth. Climatologically, in just over a week we have travelled from Antarctica to the Equator. Last week I was wearing four layers of underwear. Tonight, I am boiling in one. Two nights ago, we were drifting on lifeless seas. Tonight, reefed and storm jibbed, we are struggling to hang on as Cheyenne rockets over the waves at speeds in the high 20's. Tomorrow, back to fighting the calm as the Doldrums loom. As I write these lines, a sudden squall has driven the wind speed from 18 kts. to 28, and it will surely fall to 10 before I finish the paragraph.

And it is long. Sixty odd days is a long time to be continually engaged in a sporting event which offers no opportunity for relief. We are 100 percent occupied with extremes.

It is hard to write while bouncing this much. Shortly I will be on watch. The feel of the steering wheel in your hands calms the motion. You are now the shaker, not the shaken."

End Day 49

Now 1410 miles (3 days) ahead of RTW record pace

Cheyenne makes 516 miles North Friday averaging 21.5 kts

Equator crossing probably on Sunday

Cheyenne watch captain David Scully in the tropics.
(Dwight, Illinois - not a pseudonym, but his hometown)
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Day 48 + 12.5 hrs:

Good Trades Speed Cheyenne North

Fossett and Team averaging 20.4 kts today

Hope to Cross Equator Sunday, 2-1/2 days ahead of Round The World record pace

Justin Slattery's Report 25 - 26 March

Thursday 25th March 2004. Day 48

Well, I can confirm that these Maxi Cat's just don't like going up wind - in light wind, tacking angles are in the region of 120 degrees and boat speeds similar to wind speeds in under 8 kts of wind, then in heavier air sea state forces you to slow down more often than not. For example last night whilst driving upwind for two hours in 14 -16 kts of wind with a continuous stream of black clouds rolling in one after another, the wind knocking you before each cloud then increasing whilst under them and then lifting you into head seas afterwards, the yachts capable of doing 18-20 kts boat speed but you have to slow it down to 14kts or so sometimes even less purely to deal with the seaway, otherwise it will simply just break - frustrating as hell when all you want to do is go fast!

The past few days have been incredibly frustrating! Its one thing racing in a fleet of yachts when your all out there in the same conditions and you've all got similar parameters to deal with, but when your on your own racing against time, the clock continuously ticking and you have a few days as we have just experienced and are still experiencing, there's not allot you can do, - you could compare your progress to the current record holders position in this particular part of the ocean but I wouldn't recommend doing that, especially if they just clocked a four or five hundred mile day and you 're looking at a two to three hundred mile day. Its quite a miserable feeling! Or maybe, stare into that same blue food bowl full of the same ..... for the one hundredth and forty eight time in forty eight days and pretend its nicer than the one before! That's not so much fun either!

This has been the situation on board Cheyenne for the past two days now, we're still trying to reach the stronger trade winds to the north east, every time we get to where our weather routers want us to be, the point where we should pick up stronger winds they've moved two degrees or so further north or east - away from us. This is just the nature of where we're sailing, tropical condition off the Brasilian coast just constantly change. The reasons behind this have been developing Lows in the trough lying just west of our position which we crossed 30 - 40 hours ago. These systems have weakened the trade winds and keeps them further northeast of our position. Not only that, developing lows and troughs just tend to create very confused sea ways, again slowing our progress. We've explored all options and well, we just don't really have any - just got to though it out! Day 46 - 230 miles. Day 47 - 276 miles. Day 48 - 244 miles.

Friday 26th March 2004. Day 49

About time! A very relieved Cheyenne Crew today. At last we're in the northeasterly trade winds, 14 - 15 kts of wind from 085 degrees true, full main sail and solent reaching at 80 degrees true wind angle and a very welcome 18 - 22 kts of boat speed taking us on a northerly course. They kicked in just before my midnight to four am. watch last night. Clear sky, flat water, nice cool breeze, lovely driving conditions. A huge weight off all our shoulders. Normally I find myself quite relaxed in the conditions which we've had these past few days. You just accept your situation and deal with it. I guess we've come so far and worked so hard with Cheyenne to get her this far - anything that might stop or slow or prevent us from breaking the record at this stage, fifty days down the track would be just devastating! Our next obstacle will be the Doldrums! Just hope someone opens the gates and lets us through unscathed.

Justin Slattery

End Day 48: Back in the Trades

244 nm run past 24 hours takes Cheyenne back to stronger breeze 1032 miles (2-1/2 days) ahead of RTW record pace

Mark Featherstone (Salcombe, Devon, UK) preparing to hoist a sail
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Brian Thompson Day 48: Happy to be in the trades

"Tonight at midnight, as we handed over the watch, the trade winds started to blow across our bows, and Cheyenne started to slice through the water again. Speed crept above 12 knots, and as we slept the wind continued to fill. Now it is 6am and there is 14 knots of breeze, pushing us forwards at 21 knots.

We have had 3 days of very light and fluky breezes and it is great to be on the move again, now 1070 miles from the equator.

In 2 hours at 8am I will be on watch again and am looking forward to the sensation of speed, the wind across the deck, the hull just starting to lift and a steadily building wind. We should see 20 knots by the end of the day and that should create almost perfect conditions for us.

We have had several e-mails about the planetary alignment that is happening now and for the next couple of weeks. We are going to be looking out for it tomorrow. Tonight was too cloudy unfortunately.

The navigation department is already looking towards the passage up the North Atlantic and particularly on the 2nd half of the trip into the finish. The forecasts are very long range so are sending us mixed messages; we could be very fast or very slow. I am sure this story will run and run in the days to come.

We have seen very few birds the last few days, and just a solitary Atlantic petrel yesterday. In and out of the water lots of flying fish are darting around, but we have not seen any fish or dolphins.

More later on,

Brian"

Day 47-1/2: Tropical Travails Upwind

Cheyenne working North again

Aiming to reach Tradewinds early Friday, Equator late Sunday

Approx 900 miles ahead of Orange I (2002)

Brian Thompson on Day 47 - a return to the tropics...

"We finally entered the Tropics today as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. The equator is 1350 miles to the north of us, and after that the North Atlantic beckons. At present we are just getting out of an area of light and squally conditions and getting close the SE Trade winds, about 18 to 24 hours away from us now.

It seems like this corner of the South Atlantic, just to the East of Rio, is traditionally squally with upwind conditions. Guillermo said it was like this, only windier, on Club Med and that they nearly broke the boat in the short and steep seas. On the Volvo/Whitbread race Tokio lost its mast here whilst holding a commanding lead. It's almost like another doldrums here at the confluence of the SE Trades and the variable winds to the south.

Yesterday and last night we passed through numerous squalls, as we headed NE. The biggest one brought well over 30 knots of wind and caused us to do a hasty reef from full main and staysail to 2 reefs and storm jib. This squall lasted well over an hour. During the night we had several more like this and furled the headsail as it first hit, and rode it out with just the main doing 16 knots upwind.

We have just tacked over onto starboard to try to make some more miles to the north. The forecast is for tacking upwind today and then arriving at the trade winds early tomorrow morning, and these will allow us to close reach north up to the equator, and finally make some miles after 2 very slow days.

Other than that all has been fine on board.

Brian"

A Selection of Food Quiz Answers

End Day 47:

276 miles run to NE

941 miles ahead of RTW record pace

Day of tacking ahead

Navigator Adrienne Cahalan wrote this morning:

"We are currently beating upwind in 15kts of north east wind and will be for the next few days as we punch through up to and in the south east trades. We still have a day of tacking to get to the south east trades as the low pressure system to our west has disrupted their normal pattern. We do not anticipate that we will see the trademark, trade wind blue skies and nice small white cumulus until about latitude 17S. It will be important in the south east trades to pull out a couple of 450-500nm days to keep on record pace.

Ado at her nav station. Alert readers will observe that the picture is a few days old as the co-ordinates on the GPS are those of Cape Horn. The numbers below the position are the course and speed over ground (64 T and 22.1 Knots). On the instruments above the GPS one can read the heading (41 M), air temp (10.0 C), true wind speed (18.7 Knots) and true wind direction (308 M). The discrepancy between the course over ground and the heading is a result of the GPS being referenced to True North while the electronic compass is referenced to Magnetic North. The amount of variation between the two depends on where you are in the world and we have seen it range all the way from 0 to 60 degrees on this voyage. There is also a bit of error (deviation) that arises from local magnetic influences that vary from one boat to another. The speed over the ground takes into account factors such as tides and currents that can either help or hinder us and so it seldom reads the same as the log which reads the speed through the water. From the temperature and wind readings you can see that we had relatively mild conditions for rounding the Horn. Also of some interest in the picture is the little bit of grafitti next to the GPS which reads MOB and HOLD 2 SEC.This draws attention to the Man Overboard button which is to be held for 2 sec in the event of somebody falling overboard. Doing this records the position of the accident on the GPS which will then start to display the range and bearing back to the victim. Nick

© Dave Scully 2004

Day 47 Navigation Update from Adrienne Cahalan:

"Tropical Nights" or "A Short Diary of Fashion Misdemeanours"

"I have recently received this bit of news from Larso - a friend of mine of 'Sail Rocket' fame: "By the way Ado, saw a great picture of Donatella Versace looking absolutely shocking in a way too tight bikini the other day. She pulled off the full Quadrella, wrinkly, flabby, scowling and hunched. She even threw in a smoke hanging out of her mouth just to complete the shot."

So with Donatella in mind, and generally taking an active interest in celebrity fashion, I thought I had better check our own little star galaxy out here and put our house in order before we hit the shore. Today was a good day to run a spot fashion police check and now that we have reached the tropics there is a marked, disturbing change in fashion on board. The constraints of the cold have been lifted and the limited selection of red wet weather gear, yellow harness and blue boots (primary colours) has been relaxed so we are starting to see some alarming individual tastes in clothes and personal grooming emerging. We passed the Tropic of Capricorn today and that seemed to trigger an '_expression session' in the personal image department. Let me take you through a couple of fashion misdemeanours that are clearly climate-related - and have been picked up by the fashion police (who naturally form a part of the navigation department) today:

Damian Foxall:
Picture the scene, we are amongst squalls, towering big black thunderstorm clouds full of rain and wind which are associated with the low pressure system to our west. Even though we are in the tropics there is not a ray of the yellow stuff to be seen. The watch on deck calls over the VHF for the standby watch to come and reef the main and change to the storm jib as we start to see upwards of 30kts on the dial. Well you can imagine our surprise when Damian emerges from the hatch in silk paisley boxer shorts and knee high Gill sea boots. That awesome combination together with a tight fitting lycra top and sou'wester hat made me wonder whether he was not about to give us a tuneful rendition of 'YMCA' rather than run the bow for a sail change.

Dave Scully:
After sporting a beard that would make the redneck bear shooting cowboys from the Appalachian mountains proud (note Cape Horn group shot on website) Dave decided today that the beard had to come off. Well not all off. One little piece has been left running north-south under his chin. Now if I had the location shot of a pyramid rather than the sea in the back ground, I would have said his face fashion was straight out of Ancient Egypt. The face of Rameses II or even the young king Tutenkhamun himself spring to mind. When questioned about his choice of this particular 'Pharoah' style his response was: "There is a little bit of Egyptian in all of us"....... hmmmm.

Another beard offence: Jacques Vincent
Look again at the Cape Horn group photograph and you will see that Jacques is sporting a moustache and under chin piece combination that looks like a cross between Blackbeard the pirate and a white ruffled shirt wearing tenor from the opera 'The Barber of Seville'. Today's offence was that he actually takes it seriously and trimmed it up- and to think we thought he was only joking about it all. A member of the same watch has a rapidly growing set of mutton chops - guess who? He has red hair, barracks for the All Blacks and is sadly very proud of the little chestnuts.

Finally, Nick Leggatt:
Yesterday in another sail change and just after being freshly washed, Nick strolled up on deck in a collared shirt, neat 'ironed' pleated shorts and docksiders. He looked like he was either heading straight on to the golf course or out for a day race from Cape Town Yacht Club. Very peculiar. When questioned about how he achieved that look after the clothes he was now wearing had been squashed in a bag for almost 50 days he commented: "Its a miracle: even though there has been no laying of hands". Well a wave later came and finished him off but he continues to wear the same gear sopping wet and will do so for the next week. This is the same person who took off his foul weather gear on Day 9 at the equator and still had his jeans on from when we left the dock.

As you can see these days out here are starting to take their toll on the crew psyche. We are currently beating upwind in 15kts of north east wind and will be for the next few days as we punch through up to and in the south east trades. We still have a day of tacking to get to the south east trades as the low pressure system to our west has disrupted their normal pattern. We do not anticipate that we will see the trademark, trade wind blue skies and nice small white cumulus until about latitude 17S. It will be important in the south east trades to pull out a couple of 450-500nm days to keep on record pace. After the south east trades we pass into the ITCZ (the area of no wind at or near the equator) which is currently located at around latitude 2S. We are looking to pass through the ITCZ at about longitude 30W (where it is the smallest) on Saturday night or Sunday. After we cross the ITCZ and the equator we will be again be sailing upwind in the 15kt north east trade winds.

So far the forecast for our return through the Northern Atlantic is not so great. We will base our strategy around sailing around the Azores high and catching a cold front coming from the US. At this stage it also still looks like we may have to do some upwind work near the finish line. Luckily we still have a few days for this forecast to develop in our favour a nd we will, of course, be on praying to the wind gods to help put it right for us. Feel free to send in a good wish for us also!

Adrienne"

Jac Vincent Jour 47:

"Bonjour
lundi day 45- 526 miles; mardi day 46- 532 miles; mercredi day 47- 234 miles (environ 3 jours d'avance sur le record)

Apres 2 bonnes journees qui nous ont fait grimper tres rapidement au nord, grace a une depression contournee par l'ouest, il faut maintenant aller accrocher les alizees d'Est.

Mardi nous avons souffert dans les calmes du talweg associe a la depression et le speedo a frole les zero noeuds. Mardi soir dramatiquement englue dans le talweg il y a eu un vent de panique a bord qui a tenu nos routeurs en eveil, sans pour autant gonfler nos voiles. Puis des grains s'en sont mele ajoutant a la confusion, des risees aleatoires et de la pluie.

Mercredi matin une petite houle de face nous a prevenu de l'arrivee du "vent nouveau". Ce vent du nord est monte et les voiles sont descendues, jusqu'a 2 ris dans la GV et petit foc, babord amure.

A l'interieur la chaleur etouffante a definitivement chasse le froid. Une montagne de vestes polaires, gants, cagoules , le tout bien melange, encombre les rangements.

Les horaires des quarts restent imperturbables et c'est presque la routine. L'arrivee du courrier (electronique, bien sur) est toujours tres attendue. Les barbes des latitudes Sud disparaissent petit a petit, seul un bouc ou une moustache temoignent du temps passe.

La pluie sous les grains est la bienvenue et le shampoing a remplace une manivelle de winch dans son etui.

Ciao
Cheyenne a 1400 miles de l'equateur
mercredi a 22h
Jac"

Food Quiz Answers and Winners

Day 46-1/2

Trough Crossed

Back up to Speed Eastwards

Tacking N/NW later tonight

Still 900+ miles ahead of Orange

"Second Try Across Trough:

Our attempt yesterday (Tuesday) to cross the trough north of a Low failed. It started normally enough with light winds as we sailed East - and actually got to the East side of the trough. But then we were stopped cold last night as the Trough redeveloped in front of us. We had turn north and invest more time before making another attempt.

This morning we made our second attempt and it worked. We are now free of that complicated weather pattern, but with a loss of a day on our projected schedule. We will now tack upwind for a day to reach the Tradewinds, then hopefully have a fast track to the Doldrums - our next problem area.

Steve"

Brian Thompson's report on day 46 speed, weather and food...

"It feels like we are in the doldrums already, with very light winds and big squalls all over the ocean. It's night now and with no moon the best way to see the squalls is with the radar, and at the moment the screen is half covered with the green smudges of rain showers. Outside the rain is falling softly and persistently as we exit out the back of one particularly big squall that had completely blocked our path. We are managing to trickle along at 8 knots now. During my last watch at the beginning of the night we were under clear skies but the wind was so light that the max boat speed we saw for the 4 hours was 6 knots, and most of the time it was 3 knots, and that mainly caused by the push from the swell.

Such frustrating sailing as we fight to get out to the trade winds. The meteorology is complicated by low pressure areas that are forming around us, rather like a macro version of the squalls that are popping up in minutes. The air is very unstable here so anything can happen. We are just making the best progress we can in the changeable conditions. We are switching from the solent to the Code O to the blast reacher as the wind shifts and keeping occupied with sail trimming.

Damian has just created a breakfast of cold porridge and freeze-dried raspberries. It's actually very good, but perhaps we are just very hungry! For instance, the health bars we thought were very average tasting at the beginning of the trip, and left uneaten for days, are now craved as if they were magnum ice creams. Today Guillermo brought out a stash of sauces to complement the fine selection of main meals so we have a choice of Thai, Caribbean and Louisiana sauces.. Perhaps a dash of each, but not on the porridge... for now anyway.

Brian"

End Day 46

234 miles run over past 24 hours on Eastward crossing of Low pressure trough

893 miles ahead of Orange I's 2002 RTW pace

Today's picture is of Whirly adjusting the sails.
I have already received answers to yesterday's competition,
but at the moment there is still no winner!
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Tuesday 1740 GMT: 45 Days + 12-1/2 hrs

Eastward-bound crossing the Low

173 miles past 12-1/2 hours (13.9 kts avg)

Approx 1000 miles ahead of Orange 2002

Brian Thompson uses his Brasilian holiday to catch up on his letters home:

Day 44
"We are making great progress to the north now as the southerly winds propel us past Uruguay and onto Brazil. It is going to take most of the week to pass the Brazilian coastline and we will run into light winds just off Rio in a low pressure trough, and again off the Amazon in the doldrums. Both areas of light winds define different areas of trades. The first will be the transition from the southerly winds of today to the easterlies of the SE trades, and the second from the SE Trades to the NE Trades of the Northern Hemisphere.

There is no avoiding some light airs in this South Atlantic portion of the voyage. Last night we made good progress under cloudless skies. We passed one mile away from a fishing vessel and made one gybe from port to the current starboard gybe. For the gybe we put a reef in to reduce any risk of batten breakage.

Conditions down below are improving as the constant dripping walls (from all the condensation) of the last month have finally disappeared. The aluminium core of the hulls are a great conductor of the heat or cold so the insides of the hulls have been very cold till now, causing all the moisture from our breath and the cooking to condense on the hull.

I have to go on watch now, more later..

Brian"

Day 45
"We have just finished Day 45 and are less than 5000 miles from the finish. Steve just worked out that we have to average 255 miles a day down the direct course to tie the record, which is an achievable target. We will have to sail a higher average through the water as our forecast route in the N. Atlantic is going to be quite a way west of the rhumb line (shortest distance).

We have just completed 2 fast days with a 532 miler today and have 2 slow days coming up as we make the transition into the SE trade winds. Every morning Dave's watch has a competition for the closest guess to the daily run and today was Guillermo's victory with an estimate of 530, not bad.

Conditions continue to hot up on board as we approach the Tropic of Capricorn which is now only 200 miles to our north. We need the foul weather gear on deck to counter the occasional spray but other that that we are down to one layer of thin thermals. I can forecast a peel to shorts and T shirt later today.

Further ahead we are projecting our second equator crossing to be on Saturday and to be a little slower than the seamless trip we had through on the way south.

So it looks like an action day ahead for us as the wind drops and shifts, forcing us to start heading towards the east. It will keep us busy as we focus on getting through to those trade winds as early as possible; they will allow us to start heading north again.

Brian"

Picture Quiz time

End Day 45: 539 Miles Run

1040 Miles Ahead Orange 2002 Pace

Tough Trough Crossing Later Today

Watch Captain David Scully wrote last night on on the course:

"The last 48 hours have seen us take a significant bite out of the miles to the line, reaching up the Brasilian coast at well over 20 kts. We are working our way west around a pocket of low pressure. Tomorrow, speed will drop off as we slide through a trough extending north of the low, and then we hope to pick up the trades for the trip to the Equator."

Skipper Steve Fossett wrote this morning on upcoming strategies:

"Today we have a difficult transition to cross a Low trough to the east. This will be very slow. So we will lose ground in the comparison to Orange for today. Then we will enter the Tradewinds tomorrow afternoon and have a good run to the Equator.

Watch Captain David Scully's Monday night report on Day 45

"Making miles toward the Equator while the sun shines. Layers of discarded clothing litter the deck. The hulls are drying out inside. The contents of the drying locker are returning to sea bags, and the air smells of sun tan lotion.

The last 48 hours have seen us take a significant bite out of the miles to the line, reaching up the Brasilian coast at well over 20 kts. We are working our way west around a pocket of low pressure. Tomorrow, speed will drop off as we slide through a trough extending north of the low, and then we hope to pick up the trades for the trip to the Equator.

The Doldrums are between 2 and 4 degrees south of the line at the moment, and where it would be too lucky to get the same, seamless transit we did on the way south, we hope not to tarry on Neptune's doorstep for too long.

The real problem awaits us in the North Atlantic. At the moment, the Azores High is well established to the north of the Azores, meaning headwinds for us as we work up toward the finish. The situation still has time to evolve, but at the moment we are facing a gruelling finish to this 28,000 mile odyssey. The good news is that the weather prog cannot get worse, so by the time we get there, a solution may present itself.

In the absence of cooking gas, the cold frappucino has become the refreshment of choice on board, and they are quite tasty, though requiring a deft hand at stirring. The Mars bars have disappointingly disappeared from the daily ration packs, in deference to the increasing heat, and we are starting to look hungrily at the flying fish, though our garlic supply has long since sprouted green shoots. Young men's minds are turning to thoughts of washing, and the foredeck is turning into a bucket bath venue. Beards off, shorts on, and may we find a way through the less windy bits for a fast passage home."

Watch Captain Brian Thompson's Argentine report

Sunday March 21: "Saturday was a slow day, the slowest so far on this record attempt. We were beating upwind in light air, the worst point of sail for these big catamarans, and often having to take an unfavourable tack to the west just to stay in the light and very puffy breeze. During the night the wind started to fill in and by this morning we were screaming along at 28-30 knots with the solent and full main at 120TWA and 20 knots of wind. As the day has progressed and the sun passes from right to left (as it does so strangely here in the Southern Hemisphere), the wind has been steadily coming behind and we have hoisted our blast reacher, followed by our big gennaker.

So we are now max downwind and heading towards Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Later today we will be passing Buenos Aires in Argentina and will be about 550 miles offshore from the coast of South America. We are now making great progress to the north and gaining time on Orange again.

When we arrive off Rio we will have to avoid a low-pressure area that will be parked 500 miles offshore. We can choose to go inshore to the west, or offshore to the east. At the moment we are undecided on the option but during the night we will have to make the choice. As more up to date weather info comes in it should become a clearer decision.

Yesterday was Moose's birthday and his watch celebrated by inviting the crew over to the cockpit for coffee and chocolates. Moose said it's his first birthday without a beer since he was 15. That makes a lot of birthdays on this trip so far. On our watch, Damian, Nick and myself have all had our birthdays this month.

Justin has been continuing to experiment with cooking without gas and has now started putting the freeze dried food into soak 8 hours before each meal, and putting the pressure cookers in the heating locker for that time. Dinner was really well hydrated so he is on to something. Of course the ulterior motive is to save enough gas for the morning coffee, and there are not many objections to that trade.

So far we have been spending a vast amount of time fixing the instrument system that keeps on crashing. Nick, Dave and Adrienne spent the entire day yesterday troubleshooting and managed to get it to function through the night. Today work continues on getting the instruments working on the starboard steering pedestal in preparation for a gybe onto starboard tonight, otherwise it is up and running. Yesterday Nick never managed to touch the helm and spent his 2 watches, his standby and his offwatch working on the wiring. Not that he missed any exciting driving as we trickled along at 8 knots.

The temperatures are warming up rapidly as we now charge north, air temp is touching 20 C in the daytime and the sea temp is clearly up, you can tell that when the spray hits you. We have seen our first flying fish today and also seen 2 albatross. Perhaps these are the last we will see. It will be a shame when the they leave us, their incredible gliding and their sheer size have kept us enthralled for over a month.

Its time now to strip off the layers we have been wearing the last month. I have to admit I have changed my thermals only once in the Southern Ocean, as I have kept dry and warm. Some of the coldest days I wore my Musto one piece drysuit that is completely impervious, as even the feet are encased in the Gore-Tex fabric. Now it is back to the foul weather trousers and smock top that works well in the tropics, and just a thin layer of thermals. The sunblock is replacing the balaclava and the Kaenon sunglasses replace the Gath helmet.

Better go and fetch my sunhat and get on deck to drive..

Brian"

Day 44-1/2: Good progress today

281 nm over past 12 hrs

900 miles ahead of RTW record pace

Challenging trough of Low pressure to cross tomorrow

Justin Slattery

Day 44 - 45

Sunday 21st - Monday 22nd March 2004, Day 44-45

The wind finally filled in from the northwest as expected just before 00.00 Zulu at 18 to 22 kts last night so we're on the move again. Cheyenne's in good shape " dare I say it," with all systems, B&G etc. working again. I don't care to remember day 43 - our worst days run so far - just over 200 miles. We always knew the south Atlantic was going to be difficult! But that takes the .....!

We began sailing with full main and solent in the late hours of day 43 to the early hrs. of this morning finally putting away our light wind code 0 then by mid morning we had peeled to the blast reacher. Later in the afternoon as the breeze continued to shift even further aft into the south west we peeled to our "big dog" full sized VMG furling gennaker with staysail.

All this time sitting at boat speeds of between 20 and 28 kts. Then later last night as the wind as predicted shifted through the south and into the south east we gybed on the shift are still maintaining our north easterly course of 030 degrees. A great days run of 527 miles! And it looks good again for tomorrow.

We're peeling the layers of clothing off "literally" - I pity the first person we make contact with in a few weeks time, they'll probably smell us before they see us!- I'm sure I've never had the same clothes on for this amount of time! Its getting warmer and warmer by the day - in shorts and t-shirt and sunny's today. Such a nice feeling after a month in fowl weather gear.

5,500 miles to go to our finish line just off Ouessant, and we're currently 750 miles ahead of the current record holders Bruno Peron's "Orange". We've significantly narrowed our margin but we're still ahead and its all to play for. Just got to keep this bus trucking!

Justin Slattery

Jac Vincent - son reportage - Jour 45

"bonjour,

Toujours a bord de Cheyenne....778 miles d'avance sur le record. vendredi soir: Comme prevu le vent est tombe et notre tour du monde s'est transforme en "navigation de lac". Des voiles presque oubliees , comme le "code zero", sont resorties de la soute a voile. Comme toujours choisir "la bonne voile" du temps est une decision difficile car la moindre manoeuvre de changement de tenue a bord de Cheyenne prend du temps et necessite les trois quart de l'equipage. Il vaut mieux eviter les erreures si on veut rester populaire. Donc presqu'en permanence je me demande quelle voile serait la suivante si le vent fait ci ou ca. Une fois le choix fait, parfois democratiquement, le quart de service prepare la manoeuvre et ensuite on appelle le quart "stand by" , au repos mais habille, pour tourner les manivelles. La communication d'une coque a l'autre ou du pont a la table a carte se fait par un cicuit de telephone VHF. Meme la "cuisine" a son telephone pour annoncer les repas ! "Galley to all stations, diner is served!", ou "nav to helm, you're on course !" ou encore "nav to galley, can you bring my lunch box and a coffee".

Samedi : toujours encalmines dans une dorsale. On attend le vent qui doit arriver avec un front froid venu su SW. On tente quelques virement de bords vers l'W pour s'en rapprocher mais du coup on s'eloigne d'ouessant, le cap est catastrophique mais on tient le coup, il faut rester serein dans la petole meme quand le chrono defile ! (Bon exercice mental) Enfin le soir le vent rentre , vite et assez fort pour qu'on ait a choquer les voiles afin de maitriser le bateau lance a plus de 26 noeuds. Ce vent du W de 24 noeuds est un regal. Au debut la mer desordonnee secoue violemment la coque sous le vent. Mais apres une journee de calme personne ne s'en plaint.

Dimanche matin: La houle va maintenant dans le meme sens que le vent et le speedo peut sereinement monter jusqu'a 30 noeuds. Les barreurs se regalent.

Dans certains quarts les temps de barre sont regles a la minutes, chez nous c'est comme on le sent. En general la barre est dure et personne se la dispute. Les etraves sont sur des rails et on se rechauffe vite a vouloir jouer avec les vagues. Finalement le meilleur compromis, pour le barreur et le bateau, est de rester dans un crenaux de 10 degre. Le vent adonne et passe au SW, le "blast reacher" et puis plus tard l'enorme "big Dog" sont envoyes. Le "big Dog" est la plus grande voile d'avant du bateau, un enorme genaker pour le portant. Cette voile rappelle a Steve la meute de chiens qui tiraient son traineau en Alaska, une de ses multiples aventures.

Le dejeuner etait plutot reussi. Les repas s'ameliorent avec le temps. On fait plus attention a leur preparation. Grace au rationnemnet du gaz on va finir par avoir des pates "al dente" a la place de la "bouillie de nouilles" du debut. Les conditions de vie a bord s'ameliorent aussi, il fait plus chaud et plus sec. Quel constraste avec le froid humide et les paroies ruisselante de condensation d'il y a seulement 4 jours.

Les activites de bricolage sont reduites mais nos soucis d'electronique persistent . La cablerie et ses connections ont souffert de l'humidite. Petit a petit la gangraine gagne du terrain et les repetiteurs d'affichage deffectueux sont enleves du circuit. Cela n'entame en rien le potentiel du bateau.

Cote meteo apres le passage du talweg, le vent va continuer a tourner a gauche, nous obligeant a empanner, tribord amure, dans la nuit. Pour la grande joie des "tribordais" car la coque au vent est la coque "seche". Une depression nous barre la route et nous allons essaye de la negocier en restant dans son ouest pour rester dans des vents portant. La difficulte suivante sera la transition avec les Alizees. Une fois au nord de cette depression il y aura une zone de calme a traverser avant d'atteindre les Alizees du SE qui nous emeneront jusqu'a l'equateur. Le record est toujours a notre portee.

Lundi matin: nous avons empanne dans la nuit.Le chef de quart est a la barre et le chef de quart en stand by coordonne la manoeuvre. Tout le monde est sur le pont dans un ballet de torches et de lampes de tetes mais pas une fausse note. 40 minutes d'un bord sur l'autre tout de meme !

Cheyenne lundi a 9h par 34 S et 44 W a 2200 miles de l'equateur

Jacques"

End Day 44: 526 miles

Avg 21.92 kts past 24 hrs

Still 778 miles ahead of RTW record pace

"Back into the big miles, the whole day sailing ahead of the cold front on course at 23 kts +, straight down the shortest possible course. In 2002 Orange sailed a more classic wide course round and through the South Atlantic High, ultimately adding hundreds of miles to their route. We will be taking a more direct route.

Past Argentina, Uruguay to Port, we are heading for a low that has formed off Rio and hope to slide up the inside, great to be downwind in this section but the low is dragging us further West than we would like which, while it is the direct and shortest route, could very easily leave us hanging out to dry once we pass close to the Brasilian coast. Anyway, in changing forecasts we sail opportunistically - and take the fast route North. Brasil here we come."

Today's picture shows some of the crew looking "kaenon" getting back into the tropics and the tradewinds.
Guillermo, Brian, Mike, Fraser and Jacques.
© Nick Leggatt 2004

Damian Foxall's diary - Days 40-44

"Day 40
278 Miles
Past The Horn and took her thru the 'Straights of LaMaire' a notoriously windy channel just East of Tierra Del Fuego.

Day 41
398 Miles
Falklands to Port and a park up of the Falklands as we pass to leeward. Then wind fills in and we are off at 28 kts , towards the mark.

Day 42
418 Miles
A High pressure ridge to negotiate , sees us tacking up wind for 36 hrs. We take the opportunity to repair Main track at Full hoist... A solid Day up the rig for five of us in shifts of two at a time, it's rough for the first few hours but the wind dies throughout the day. Scavenging bolts of other fittings; Drilling / Easy out the broken fasteners; Cut and Clean broken track; After sunset at the end of the day we finally bolt the replacement on - to the light of head torches. The boat is back in one piece, again ... and a long sleep as the next watches take the boat over.

Day 43
213 Miles
45S 50W
Moose's birthday ... he is happy there are no repairs to do, only sailing in flat water and sunshine. Still battling our High Ridge and making little way North with tacks through 120 Degrees in 4-8 kts wind. At least now we have Full sail up and over the next few hours a cold front will pick us up and send us North. Geronimo is making good speed in the Southern Ocean and is currently just ahead of where we were a few weeks ago. Orange I is rounding 'The Horn' today on their 2002 record circumnavigation, we are just 2 days ahead.

Day 44
526 Miles
35S 44W
"Back into the big miles, the whole day sailing ahead of the cold front on course at 23 kts +, straight down the shortest possible course. In 2002 Orange sailed a more classic wide course round and through the South Atlantic High, ultimately adding hundreds of miles to their route. We will be taking a more direct route.

Past Argentina, Uruguay to Port, we are heading for a low that has formed off Rio and hope to slide up the inside, great to be downwind in this section but the low is dragging us further West than we would like which, while it is the direct and shortest route, could very easily leave us hanging out to dry once we pass close to the Brasilian coast. Anyway, in changing forecasts we sail opportunistically - and take the fast route North. Brasil here we come."

Great to be sailing fast again

Damian"

Day 43-1/2: Sunday Speeding

298 nm over past 12 hours avg 24.84 kts

Now 801 miles ahead of Orange 2002 RTW record position

Justin Slattery writes:

"Having rounded the Horn in beautiful conditions on Mar 17th, Paddy's day, with a spectacular view of the Patagonia Cordillera, we've since enjoyed more lovely weather - but with reasonable to just fair and then poor sailing conditions over the past two days.

Thursday 18th March 2004 Day 41.

Just before negotiating the "Estrecho le Maire" (The Maire Straights) during the early hours of Thursday morning day 42, reaching in a 20 - 25 kt. westerly breeze we were trapped under the shadow of Isla Navarino with virtually no breeze for a no. of hours. Then through the Straights at speeds over the ground in excess of 30 kts with a 4-6 kt current under us, an unusual feeling after sailing in open oceans for weeks to be virtually land locked! Once through we proceeded on our northeasterly course to the Falklands reaching at 20 to 30 kts under solent or staysail with one reef in our main - flat water at last! Day 41 brought us a 418 mile day. Acceptable, just!

Friday 19th March 2004 Day 42.

We passed Beauchene island, sailing just 6 miles to weather of the island on Friday mid morning with solent and one reef in our main. We couldn't ask for nicer sailing conditions - "just as the holiday brochure would advertise it". Then for a second time we managed to get trapped under the lee of the Falkland Islands (even at over 60 miles to leeward) having to gybe off on a terrible course losing valuable hours just to get clean air. Not very flash!

Lighter conditions in the evening and flatter water allowed us to repair the second, one and a half meter section of broken track - this time at the full hoist position. Having brought the remaining pieces down on the previous evening - another unpleasant, particularly rough trip for myself up the mast, Mike had spent most of his day rebuilding the track with all we have left, batten loaders and spare track. Meanwhile, Damian Foxall and I spent our evening and well into the darkness of the night removing the sheered bolts, re-tapping and helicoiling stripped bolts and finally re-attaching our "new" sections of track. By midnight we were back under full main - fortunately just before the wind dropped right off - 20 kts, - 15 kts, 10 kts and then 5kts. Another marathon effort 100 ft + in the air. Day 42 ending with a very average 299 miles.

Saturday 20th March 2004 Day 43 10:42 am

We've been in V.M.G upwind mode for the past 24 hours now in anything between 5 and 12 kts of breeze from a northerly quadrant, tacking as the wind shifts back and forth. Trying to stick as close as possible to our desired north-easterly course while edging northwest when possible to get close to where the new breeze will eventually come from. We're expecting a northwesterly which will eventually back right around to the south west at 20 to 25 kts - Can't wait! We're almost out of the South Atlantic's first jail sentence!

Today's run will have all the signs of V.M.G. upwind sailing in very little air - I think well be lucky to pull off a 200 mile day. Nick, our S. African crew member and Adrienne our navigator have been rewiring / even rebuilding our B&G electronic system all morning. Being an alloy Nomex cored yacht with carbon laminates all mixed with salt water makes for perfect electrolysis conditions which, coupled with the general onboard dampness, is just playing havoc with our instruments. Not an area I'd like to play with. Impressive work!

Till later,

Justin Slattery"