The gybe

Ellen makes her move and now sending B&Q down the track at full speed

The forecast wind shift to the North West has finally arrived. Ellen is now sailing at blistering speed along the direct route to the finish, maintaining speeds of over 22 knots for the past few hours. For the first time closing on Bourgnon’s ghost track by an hour [now 23 hours behind].

The eventual gybe in the shift was followed by light and variable winds, physically hard sail changes were required to maintain speed. Once speed then increased, the stress increased again another notch. ”I spent the night worrying in the cuddy, but have decided to go to bed now as I’m not achieving anything on deck...problem now is getting thrown out of my bunk...but if we can hold these speeds we’re on fire...” a slightly jaded Ellen said this morning.

Ellen is now approaching the halfway mark in terms of miles [total 2925 miles] and time [now into day 4]. The chance of record is still definitely on, but an average speed (on direct route) of 18.77 knots is still a quite extraordinary target. Lighter winds are expected towards the finish, so the pace needs to be hot right now.

Said Ellen in her morning phone call; "We’re doing 23 - 25 knots straight down the track, 22 knots of breeze, full main and Solent, totally powered up...just waiting for something to break, so just got in my bunk in the end.... Having spent the night cold and worrying about it in cuddy, decided to go to bed as not much I can do! Problem is getting thrown out of my bunk though, the lee cloth not quite doing its job...if we can hold these speeds for a while we’re on fire, and still have a chance on the record.
Hoping breeze doesn’t increase, as I’ll have to take Solent [mid-size headsail] down. Hard to judge when to take it down. If I have to change then the chance of breaking record will diminish...so pushing to the limit! [Alarm going off in background, its a wind alarm set to alert Ellen when wind peaks at maximum for a sail combination to take, in theory]....wind at 24 knots....it would be so easy to ignore the alarm and curl up by the warm generator and go to sleep...am going to try and get some sleep though now and sit like this for a while. It was a long night again though, great to see the daylight again...Forced down a huge bowl of ceriel, banana and milk powder this morning. Having not really eaten since yesterday lunchtime...”

B&Q Stats 0800GMT 25 June
Elapsed time: 3d 9h 50m
Ahead/behind record: -391 miles, 22hr 49min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 1190
Distance to finish: 1665
Position: 38 56 07N; 41 22 31W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 14.51
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 18.70
Current boat speed: 23 knots