Negotiating the trough

Mari Cha IV breaks through the barrier in her transatlantic record attempt

Position: 0830, Sunday 5 October

Lat: 46 10.44' N
SOG: 19.6 knots
AvSp: 15.7 knots  
Long: 52 25.20' W
COG: 45deg
DTF:1873.14 nm

Mari Cha IV should by now have broken out of the trough which she has spent the last 24 or so hours trying to break free of. For more than 10 hours yesterday this saw the giant schooner sailing upwind at a relatively pedestrian 12 knots northeast to a waypoint off Newfoundland.

Last night router Roger 'Clouds' Badham told the Daily Sail that he was busy thrying to get Mari Cha IV through the front and out of the frontal cloud they were buried under. "Then it's basically a run around the high and the routeing takes them nicely around it to be home on the 9th - we'll see!!

"It's a good window - getting across this trough line was always going to be a problem and they're having trouble getting into 'free' air, but that should happen shortly... if not by now. From here, there are no more major hurdles - only finding the optimum track around the high - but that's pretty broad."

Mari Cha IV's slow second day has seen them only cover 320 miles and so their average speed has dropped from 19 to 16 knots.

"Hopefully we can get all these numbers to shine in a day or two," commented Jef d'Etiveaud. "In the mean time we will do our best to lose as little as possible in the lull."