Don't break the boat...

Steve Fossett and Cheyenne are heading for non-stop round the world record of 58.5 days...

Day 55
Position at 0510GMT: 31deg 05.450N 30deg 44.450W
Course/speed: 059deg/25.1 knots
TWS/TWA: 20.0 knots/152deg

Steve Fossett and the crew of Cheyenne are still in remarkably good shape to take the record for sailing non-stop around the world to less than 60 days. In the last 24 hours the 125ft catamaran has covered a respectible 489 miles in the right direction. At this point Orange was wallowing in the Doldrums and so the American catamaran now holds a respectible lead of almost 1,500 miles on them.

With 1554 miles to go to the finish, the forecast at present is lining up as predicted. Over the course of this morning the high pressure that was to Cheyenne's north has graciously moved out of their way to the east and by this afternoon its centre will be passing over the Canaries forced out of the way by the depression to the west of Cheyenne. This depression is very conveniently moving northeast with Cheyenne and will be the American catamaran's personal turbo charger that should propel them most of the way to the finish line.

Over the course of this evening the crew should experience the wind veering from the southeast to the south and intensifying to around 30 knots. Depending upon their exact track, but assuming they sail up the great circle (there is no reason not to...) Saturday should see the wind continue to veer around to the west and then back to southwest and lighten to around 20 knots. On their approach to the Bay of Biscay on Sunday is the only occasion they might have to deviate from the great circle due to an area of light winds on the left hand side of the race track, but they won't have to stray far to the southeast to find more pressure and southwesterlies of around 20 knots.

Our predictation is for Cheyenne to cross the finish off Ushant sometime on Monday morning or afternoon. This will make her time around the world in the order of 58-59 days some five to six days faster than Orange's present record.

After crossing the line off Ushant Cheyenne will head for Plymouth where there is certain to be an almighty party on Monday night (and probably most of Tuesday). For those who wish to be part of this moment in history Cheyenne will be coming into Plymouth Yacht Haven on the Mountbatten peninsula southeast of Plymouth. Lock up your daughters...

Brian Thompson reports from on board...

It’s just before dawn on Friday morning, and we have 1500 miles to go. Cheyenne is slicing towards Ushant at 25 knots as the low pressure to our SW pushes us home. We have a staysail and one reef in the main, the wind is on the beam, blowing at 20 knots. It’s cloudy and a little squally outside as Dave, Whirly, Guillermo and Mark handle the cockpit. Inside I am typing while Steve, Nick and Damian are standing by to go on deck in an hour. We have done one sail change in our standby, from the full main to one reef.

Yesterday we had some of the best sailing of the trip so far, with blue skies, flat seas and a wind from 120 TWA, perfect for most boats, but especially good for us, and even though the wind was around 15 knots most of the day we still managed a 489 mile day.

It was also a good chance to check over the boat. Justin went up the rig, and we took down the gennaker halyard and re-spliced the dead end that sits at the top of the mast, this was starting to be damaged. He also lube’d up the main headboard car that was creaking under the strain - for the last month some parts of it have been cracked, so we need to look after it. We also eased the tension in the luff of the gennaker, as the rope inside that usually takes the halyard tension had stretched, allowing more of the tension to go on to the sail.

So that was all very necessary, it took about three hours of work, but we lost only a little speed during that time. Now it is too rough to go up the rig, and perhaps that was our last chance to do a rig check without losing speed.

The weather forecast is still looking favourable for a fast finish, there will be some stronger wind tonight and Saturday, but we should be used to 30 knots after a month in the Southern Ocean, at least it will be a lot warmer.

Last night was amazingly clear as we were closer to the high pressure to our east. It was a chance to see all the visible planets at one time. We also got out the Nautical Almanac and re-learnt all the navigation stars, like Bellatrix and Arcturus, that pre GPS, thousands of sailors would have had to know better than their own street at home.

So time to go on deck and keep this boat fast and safe. As they say in the US, we are heading for the barn.

Brian