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Trimaran
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Ellen
MacArthur's lead has dropped to below four days as she
attempts to break the solo round-the-world record.
The
Briton, who is chasing Frenchman Francis Joyon's mark,
suffered from bad weather and an injury to her head on
Saturday which hampered her progress. MacArthur
has sailed around Cape Horn and has just over 5,800
miles left in her challenge. She remains nearly
four days ahead of the world record of 72 days, 22
hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds.
On
Saturday, turbulent conditions caused the 28-year-old to
bang her head on board the giant trimaran B&Q, while
"deep fatigue" also began to take its toll.
The
5ft 2in tall sailor will have to cross the finish line
at Ushant off the French coast no later than 9 February.
Ellen
Macarthur MBE
A
TEST NEWS SIGNING-OFF 16 Jan 2005 - 18:16
21.58
knots of boat speed close to the direct course gains
back some of the time lost - 2 hours since 1310gmt.
From Ellen: "Tactically the choices are not
obvious but I am trying to find myself the best option
to rest and keep pushing to get across the ridge of
high pressure but, for sure, the winds will be get
lighter and we will lose some more time - there is no
doubt about it..."
ELLEN
STEMS TIME LOSS FOR NOW 16 Jan 2005 - 17:21
Heading
north-east at 15.31 knots, closer to the direct
course, in 23.7 knots of breeze from the south-west
and Ellen starts to stem the deficit on the clock,
gaining back on hour this afternoon. But she knows the
boat speed averages in the next few days will decrease
as B&Q tries to get through a ridge of high
pressure to her north of Uruguay. With 5,802 miles
left on course, the average VMG [velocity made good
towards the finish] required is 10.2 knots...
SLEEPING
AT ANY OPPORTUNITY 16 Jan 2005 - 14:49
Call
from Ellen: "I have been trying to sleep at any
opportunity - I am feeling better but am shattered
really... Conditions should be okay for next 12 hours
and expect to be under gennaker soon and 1 reef. Just
have to accept we are going to be slow for the next
three days till we get passed this high
pressure..."
ELLEN
EMAIL 16 Jan 2005 - 12:35
See
latest email from Ellen below - she is back from the
edge but there is still a long way to go on the road
of recovery...
ELLEN
GYBED 16 Jan 2005 - 12:20
Ellen
has gybed B&Q onto port and is now heading in a
North Easterly direction on the 'making' gybe. Boat
speed is good, and Commanders Weather are happy with
her progress and hint at the possiblility of 'rest'
period tomorrow.
B&Q
bows up
TIME
TO GYBE SOON 16 Jan 2005 - 09:21
As
wind shifts into the west, Ellen will gybe B&Q to
head north-east and back on a more direct course.
Pressure is on as high pressure over Uruguay moves
east, expanding across her path. See latest day 50
full story below...
COMMANDERS
WEATHER 16 Jan 2005 - 07:53
South-westerly
airflow continues today in mid-20s range, decreasing
later tonight as threatening High Pressure over
Uruguay moves east... See Commanders Weather analysis
below...
LEAD
DROPS BELOW 4 DAYS 16 Jan 2005 - 07:25
In
our comparison of Ellen's and the record track,
Francis Joyon has continued his strong runs up to Cape
Horn which he rounds today, albeit after seeing his
Solent headsail come crashing down in to the water,
taking him 5 hours to recover on to the deck.
Meanwhile Ellen has passed to the north of 40S, a big
landmark in terms of returning to 'civilisation',
sailing in rough 30+ knot conditions that are expected
to drop off in the next few hours. Compare the tracks
via the LIVE DATA button...
ELLEN:
IT IS SO HARD TO SLEEP! 15 Jan 2005 - 16:16
Ellen
is a very experienced solo sailor, and she recognises
right now where she is on the fatigue curve - at the
limit. But doing something about it is easier said
than done, and she's had enough of people telling her
sleep right now! As the reality onboard is that with
unstable wind speed, in particular when the trend is
upwards, she MUST change gear via an energy sapping
sail change. Her body is aching all over. The mental
strain continues to take its toll, in what is the
biggest threat so far.
LESS
HASTE MORE SPEED 15 Jan 2005 - 14:25
After
gybing on to starboard a couple of hours ago, B&Q
is heading on an ENE course at 15.74 knots of boat
speed in 25 knots breeze coming from the west. No
doubt Ellen will want to be going faster to meet the
deadline of Monday 1500-1800 to get north of 32-33
degrees south to avoid having to fight through high
pressure zone expanding east off the coast of Uruguay.
But conditions over the next few hours may offer Ellen
with her best opportunity to rest.
DAY
50: DIGGING DEEP, TO GET OUT OF A DEEP HOLE...
Sunday, 16 January 2005 at 09:10
KEY
DATA DAY 49 0710 GMT:
Distance ahead: 1,275 miles
Time ahead: 3 days 21 hours 6 minutes [representing
16.15% of time remaining] calculated using the average
speed of Joyon's time around the world
OMEGA: Official timekeeper for Ellen MacArthur
Lat/Long: 39 07 S / 050 38 W (500 miles SE Buenos Aires)
Average Boat speed: 16.30 knots (heading E)
True Wind speed: 28.6 knots (direction W)
Sea temperature: 20.5 degrees C
Distance sailed so far: 20,524 miles at an average speed
of 17.5 knots
(data communicated by Thrane MiniC via BT Business
Broadband)
Update based on data recorded 0710 GMT...check home page
for the latest data updated hourly
B&Q
cockpit
IN BRIEF:
* ROUGH 30 KNOT CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT FOR B&Q as
winds increased from the south-west on the back of a low
pressure moving south-east forcing more work for an
all-ready exhausted Ellen, as she continually changes
sail - forced to change gear with every 5 knot increase
or decrease in wind. Boat data shows wind speeds
averaging around the 30 knot mark through the night but
the squalls would have delivered severe gusts up to 35
and 40 knots. Not the ideal conditions for sleep as the
75-foot multihull crashes up and down through the rough
seas, but at least B&Q is moving at a consistent
speed of between 16-18 knots that will bring some relief
to Ellen and, hopefully, afford her some much-needed
rest. The shore team have not heard from Ellen since
early yesterday evening [not a concern, as B&Q's
progress is constantly polled], and the team very rarely
call Ellen direct so as to not risk waking her if she is
actually sleeping. Ellen is a very experienced solo
sailor, and she recognises right now where she is on the
fatigue curve - at the limit. But doing something about
it is easier said than done, and she's had enough of
people telling her sleep right now! Her body is aching
all over. The mental strain continues to take its toll,
in what is the biggest threat so far to her solo round
the world record attempt to break Francis Joyon's 72
day, 22 hour and 54 minute record.
* B&Q's LEAD SLIPS TO UNDER FOUR DAYS to just 3 days
21 hours and 6 minutes this morning. Ellen has held a
4-5 day advantage for over a week, since day 41 [2000
miles away from Cape Horn] but to put some persepctive
on the situation - less than 2 weeks ago, on day 30, her
advantage stood at 1 day and 6 hours, and that was her
biggest lead so far in this record attempt. In our
comparison of Ellen's and the record track, Francis
Joyon has continued his strong runs up to Cape Horn
which he rounds today, albeit after seeing his Solent
headsail come crashing down in to the water, taking him
five hours to recover on to the deck. Meanwhile Ellen
has passed to the north of 40S, a big landmark in terms
of returning to 'civilisation'.
* HIGH PRESSURE AHEAD CAUSING ADDED STRESS, as Ellen
pushes B&Q north as fast as possible to avoid
getting stuck in a ridge of high pressure that is moving
east from Uruguay. Commanders' have beeen telling her to
get north of 32-33 degrees south by Monday afternoon to
avoid having to fight through the windless zone, but
they are expecting that she will have to deal with 5-10
knot winds for a period tomorrow. For now, the winds are
shifting more into the WSW in the next few hours and
diminishing through to midday - if the breeze stays more
in the west, then Ellen will be looking to gybe NNE this
morning and that certainly looks to be the case from the
latest boat data - showing wind direction from the west
[279 degrees] and heading just south of east [102
degrees], so we can expect to see Ellen gybe B&Q
soon. After 1800gmt, the breeze is expected to move more
into the WNW and increase and that should let Ellen sail
a more north-easterly direct course to tackle the area
of no wind that could stall progress tomorrow.
* ELLEN'S OC SAILING TEAM MATE UPDATE: Nick Moloney on
Skandia, 7th place just 90 miles south of the Falkland
Islands Nick
Moloney
B&Q
Ellen tramps the netting
WEATHER ANALYSIS FROM COMMANDERS' WEATHER 0600 GMT:
From: Commanders' Weather Corp 0600UTC Sunday, January
16, 2005
Fairly strong SW flow that we saw Saturday will be
coming down today and the trend will be for
substantially less wind during the latter part of Sunday
night. High pressure over Uruguay will be edging east
and this will bring the lighter air east with it. Will
be coming east for a time early today and then we'll
gybe to the NNE and NE as the wind clocks this morning.
Should be able to maintain reasonably good wind speeds
until near and north of 35s.
Big hurdle coming up on Monday will be the light air
associated with the high. The high will be out around
32-33s/47-48w and continuing to head east. We plan to
come on the east side of it and stay in as much breeze
as we can. Crossing the ridge axis will be slow as
that's where the lightest wind will be. We will head
north and sail the shortest distance across this light
wind area.
Once past the high, wind should become SE and pick up
for a time. We then will have to deal with a weakening
and stalling front off to the NE.
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, time is UTC
Sun, Jan 16
09: 240-255/23-28 - gybe to a more NNE to NE heading if
and when wind W-140 twa
12: 240-260/22-27, near 38 55s/48 55W - wind lighter to
the W and N, stronger S and E gybe to a more NNE to NE
heading if and when wind W- 140 twa
18: 240-260/20-15
Partly cloudy with a shower possible. Seas 10-15 feet
Mon, Jan 17
00: 270-290/13-18 - wind more left to the N, right to
the S - lighter wind to the N
06: 280-300/12-17 - wind much lighter near and N of 35s
12: 270-250/15-10, near 34 35s/43 45w
18: 240-290/11-6 - near ridge axis and will head more N
to cross at shortest distance
Partly cloudy. Seas 8-12 ft
PARTNER OF THE DAY : RENAULT UK
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Challenges Sailing Team
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and third biggest in the world. http://www.diy.com
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Ellen.com OC/Ellen
MacArthur
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ELLEN MACARTHUR -
SOLO NAVIGATION RECORD ATTEMPT
