Hanging a left

Steve Fossett and Brian Thompson give their viewpoints on Cheyenne's progress in the her round the world record bid

Position at 05:10: 39deg 13.260S 24deg 56.850W
Course/speed: 125 deg/22.6 knots
TWS/A: 20 knots/339 deg

Skipper Steve Fossett gives his summary of Cheyenne's first fortnight at sea:

"14 days into the record attempt we are running slightly ahead of the record pace of Bruno Peyron on Orange in 2002. We are very pleased with our position because we have recovered from our slow first four days.

"The start decision on any record attempt is critical. I signed up my crew based on being ready for a start at 1 January. None of the weather patterns in January provided the opportunity for a fast first week. Due to prior commitments in late March, Stan Honey and Thomas Coville had to resign when we had not started by 1 February. Adrienne, and then Justin, have stepped in brilliantly, but the pressure was on to find a start as soon as possible.

"I chose the start on 6 February. We successfully battled winds up to 59 knots to get to the official start line at Ouessant. But within a day of starting we were trapped by light winds off Portugal - which wiped out the advantage of a carefully chosen departure day. To our frustration, Olivier de Kersauson started just one and one half days after us and had a fine run before turning back due to sail problems.

" Cheyenne's crew is in high spirits now. In part, they are pleased with the calibre of their mates. Every crew member is a superior performer and brings either great experience or special expertise to Cheyenne. Everyone works hard to earn the respect of their fellow crew members.

"It is really about the record. My burning ambition is to break the official Round the World Sailing Record, set by Bruno Peyron on Orange in 2002. This is simply the most important record in sailing - and why Cheyenne was built. Despite all the world and race records we've set since 1993, my career in sailing would not be complete without one good attempt at this record. I am not doing it for the publicity, recognition, or any financial purpose. The only goal is the RTW Sailing Record - and our sole attention is focused on breaking it.

"The problems of Geronimo and Orange II are a reminder that the hardest part of the Round the World is making it around at all. I constantly think about the risk of some sail or piece of gear breaking which would ruin our attempt. We are so vulnerable, but must have faith that our extensive preparations will pay off with a completed trip.

"The competition from Olivier de Kersauson and Bruno Peyron is awesome, and three boats making attempts at the same time will be very exciting. However it is impossible for us to measure ourselves against a boat starting after us - because we cannot judge whether they will be able to reach our location. We have to sail with the sole objective of breaking the existing record of Orange from 2002. Of course it is possible that we might be successful, and then see our new record broken only weeks afterward. Such is the nature of Speed Sailing.

"We have started the left turn in the South Atlantic and we eagerly await the challenges of sailing in the Southern Ocean. Cheyenne is in her best condition ever and the crew is prepared.


Brian Thompson gives his viewpoint

We have now just finished two weeks of sailing since we started at Ushant and are at 39.5S, just on the edge of the roaring 40s. We have 22 knots of wind and we’re running with the big gennaker, full main and staysail. Unexpectedly good winds have slingshotted us around the South Atlantic High, and we should remain in good breeze for the following three days at least. Our position relative to Orange is fine, we are approx 116 miles ahead and look like we will gain more today. We might fall into a temporary area of high pressure that will slow us for a period but our goal is to be just ahead of Orange at the longitude of Cape Town. They have five good days after their slow day today so it will be a close run thing.

Since I last wrote the conditions have changed quite a bit from the beautiful trade winds of blue skies and sparkling blue seas to thick fog and grey seas. The tropical air being blown around the high is condensing on the cold water that we are now sailing though. Once we get colder air this fog should disappear and the radar can be turned off, but at present we can only see about 300 metres around us. However, it is unlikely that we will meet any other traffic, as this part of the world is less travelled than most. In fact, we have seen only one yacht and one ship since the Cape Verde’s 8 days ago...

The sailing yesterday was quite steady, with consistent wind strength and a slow shifting of the wind direction to the north as we navigate around the high. We have been sailing downwind angles on port gybe and our course has been a steady curve towards the east.

The excitement of the day was repairing a tear in the big gennaker right in the middle of the sail, 80 feet in the air. I was walking around the foredeck, checking out the boat, and looking up, saw a foot long strip of daylight through the cuben fibre cloth. I immediately told our sail maker Whirly and he said, 'let’s get this thing down!'

We could not roll it fully as we normally would because the rip would then be buried in the turns; we had to get the sleeping crew up to have the maximum number of people to wrestle the 6000sq feet, or 600 sq metres of sail to the tramp. The drop went smoothly, and we then hoisted the blast reacher as a temporary replacement. Whirly, Nick, Dave, Damian and I set to work to put Kevlar patches on the blown seam and then stitch up the edges of the patches. We found a couple of other seams that needed attention and strengthened those as well. The Cuben gennakers are four years old and we have had problems with both of them this trip, despite their faultless history until now. Geronimo's gennakers were brand new and blew up on de Kersauson, so there must be a happy medium there somewhere. Probably like boats, cars and most things in general, they give problems when new, have a middle aged period of reliability and then start to fail.

To re-hoist the sail that was now draped over the entire forward trampoline we had to bundle up the sail with knitting wool ties every couple of metres so that it stayed in a rough roll during the hoist. We also bore right away, eased the main and strapped the solent jib on centreline to give the maximum wind shelter to the sail as it was raised.

Dawn is just now brightening the gloom around us and the repairs to the big gennaker are looking fine, but we are going to have to remain cautious with the sail to the finish. Traditionally most of the need for the big gennaker is in the trip down the Atlantic, and it is seldom used in the South. But like they always seem to say, 'it's not usually like this here', so we may need it later on too.

So far living conditions on board have been very good, food is fine, it’s still dry down below and fairly dry on deck. Stress levels have been lower than normal, as we have always been close to achieving our target of staying with Orange's positions and taking the opportunities to gain when we can. We are pushing the boat to sensible levels for the conditions, and having an even pace between the watch captains of Dave, Jacques and myself - we are all on the same page, which is a great advantage as the settings from one watch continues on to the next.

It is certainly less strain being a watch captain on board Cheyenne, than having the responsibility of being skipper of Maiden II, or sailing shorthanded. My job is to
drive the boat as safely and as fast as possible for eight hours a day, to standby to help Dave's watch for another 8 hours and also to input any experience I have, to help in the overall decision making. The great thing about sailing with Steve as skipper is that he welcomes input, rationalises the options and almost always comes up with an optimal solution in the circumstances. In this game you have always got to be looking at the big
picture - is what we are doing at this moment, consistent with our goals for the entire 64 days? Steve is very good at that, you don't get to succeed, and survive, in so many adventure sports by making unbalanced decisions.

So I am off on deck for the 8 to 12 watch now and will keep you updated on our progress.

The new species spottedtoday is the Great Shearwater, and I’m looking forward to seeing the first albatross..

Brian