Forging south

Kingfisher2 suffers a collision, but boat okay

Day 20 0700GMT	Position	24hr run	Av speed	Rel positions
Kingfisher2	44°38S 27°28E	463nm	19.29	+18nm
Geronimo	44°07S 47°13E	415nm	17.29	+792nm
Orange	39°15S 20°45E	485nm	20.21	-

Boat speed: 20.1 knots
Course: 097
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 1776 nm (theorectical shortest distance)

Following their passing of the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope yesterday at 0918GMT, Kingfisher2 continues to forge southwest, to reduce the amount of miles sailed to the minimum. By our calculations Kingfisher2 has now slipped just ahead of Orange's record pace, but at this stage Bruno Peyron and his crew were maintaining a much more northerly track.

Ellen MacArthur and her shore based router Meeno Schrader in Germany have been studying the weather as hard as ever...."We have a northerly breeze of about 20 knots, and we're hoping to hold this for next 12 hours as we traverse the convergence zone between the high pressure and low pressure system...the other side of this we're expecting very strong north westerlies..." (see image below)

During the night there was a collision with a UFO, but the boat is intact. It is interesting to note that this was a very similar position to where ENZA New Zealand was holed during her first attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy in 1993, that caused her to retire.
"Suddenly there was a load bang, and the boat shuddered...we had hit something with the starboard rudder," commented Ellen from on board. "We slowed the boat down to check, and we've a little repair to do on the fixings but it appears not to be a major problem, thankfully...we don't know what it was but hitting any object at speed is always a concern..."

To listen to the latest audio from Neal McDonald - click here.

Below: a little bit wet on board just at the minute





Kingfisher2 is currently between two weather systems