More damage to Cheyenne

Problems with mast track threatens round the world bid

American skipper Steve Fossett and his international crew of 12 pressed on yesterday despite another serious breakage - one which could threaten their non-stop round the world record attempt,

Yesterday's damage occurred at around 1700 GMT when a section of mainsail track pulled out of the mast at the first reef. The headboard car, carrying the weight of the mainsail, was torn from the mast track along with the reinforced section of track upon which it was riding.

Provisional plans are to effect repairs at sea next week (taking up to a day's time) after crossing Cape Horn, perhaps in the shelter of the Falkland Islands.

Although unable to hoist the main either to full height or to the first reef, Cheyenne continued into Sunday morning on a planned tactical positioning to the NE using only second reef and headsail, logging a useful 438 miles across the water over the past 24 hours. As winds continued from the west at 20-25 kts, Cheyenne and crew conserved their safer northerly position for the run E and SE towards Cape Horn to come.

Steve Fossett's description of the damage which jeopardises their attempt: "While sailing in a sloppy sea, the head of mainsail ripped off the track at the first reef point on the mast. This section of mast track was secured with 13 heavy screws which were sheared.

With a loss of three hours, we got the mainsail hoisted to the second reef point and we have resumed sailing. The repair requires drilling and using an Easy Out to remove the broken screws. Then we would fit replacement track. Calm water is required to work 120ft up the mast. A preliminary idea is to stop in the wind protection of the Falkland Islands and do this work which is estimated to take up to 24 hours. Rules of the round the world record prohibit outside assistance, so we would not go into Port.

Our record chances are jeopardised. Our 4.5 day lead on Orange will shrink by a day before we can get around Cape Horn and into protected conditions. Then if we lose one day on the repair we are still in the game. If we can't make the repair, the reduced area of mainsail we can hoist would be insufficient to keep up with the record pace to the finish. This is yet another repair challenge for the resourceful Cheyenne crew."

Currently Cheyenne is 2050 miles ahead of Orange's 2002 record after five weeks at sea.

Brian Thompson writes from on board:

Well it has been another busy night for us on Cheyenne, we started off with 1 reef and the solent and now after 10 hours we are again on this same combination. In the intervening period we did every down shift possible to 3 reefs and the storm jib and then every up shift back. What caused this was the approach of a cold front that brought 40 knots and a northerly wind. After the front, around dawn, the wind lightened to 25 knots and swung into the west.

As we are becoming accustomed here in the Southern Ocean any kind of front leaves us with a very bad seaway. This is the 4th front we have been through and on the others we have been able to gybe away to a better angle to the waves. However this time we have got to keep plugging away to the NE to set up for the strong NE winds that will be blowing for the last 700 miles to the Horn. By getting slightly more north now we will set up for a better angle to the Horn. We would rather not be beating around there - we are not as tough as the Challenge Yachts, the ones that race around east to west..

So it’s a boat handling issue now, and our main concern would be to not break any battens or damage the rig. Our boat speed is under control, so we are not too concerned with the structure at present.

Whenever conditions are like this and it is stressful for the boat, I certainly feel concerned as well. We all get attuned to the boat; we know that these boats are far from bullet proof. They are fantastic in moderate conditions but in these crossed waves the boat gets much more of a hammering than a monohull that can roll with the individual waves. On a wide multihull like this both hulls are in different waves, are moving up and down at different rates and giving a very jerky motion that is particularly hard on the rigging and sails. The wave are not big or dangerous in themselves, they are just at a bad angle for going downwind.

So we are marching on, looks like the wind will moderate a little and then shift back to the NW which will make our angle much better on the waves, so only another 12 hours or so of these conditions.

The good news is that we have Nick back on our watch now, and sporting one of our Gath surfing helmets, with a visor, that serves to keep the spray off his cut cheek. He drove for an hour in the windy conditions last night and is back on top form.

Wildlife is sparser now as we are far from any land. We are still seeing several species of Albatross every day, but Nick has not seen any new types, so far he has spotted a third of the 13 species. Also we are never far from storm petrels that seem to use us as the control tower for their flying.

Yesterday we went flying past a seal that was all alone about 1700 miles from land, hope it evades the killer whales and gets back home..

We passed a tanker yesterday that appeared to be heading for Antarctica.

....

The mainsail track at the first reef position has just pulled out as I was writing this. The main is now on the deck and we are putting the headboard back on the mast and replacing a broken batten car. We will be able to use the main to second reef and third reef till we can find calm conditions to go up the mast and work on the track. This won’t happen till after the Horn and perhaps the Falklands. Let’s hope the wind keeps blowing.... Brian

Birding totals for Nick in the Southern Ocean:
5 species of albatross
4 species of petrel
3 species of shearwater
1 penguin
3 species