On track

But Olivier de Kersauson awaits tomorrow's strong northwesterlies to take him south to the Southern Ocean

After their two 500+ mile days, the progress of Olivier de Kersauson's Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric sponsored Geronimo has been slower, the maxi-trimaran covering 368 miles in the 24 hours up until 2317 this evening.

By our calculations Geronimo is pretty much neck and neck with the equivalent position for Steve Fossett and Cheyenne at the end of their 13th day at sea and some 75 miles ahead of Orange's position from her 2002 record.

Geronimo's parabolic course, necessary to skirt the South Atlantic high is certainly longer than de Kersauson would like and means he is sailing more miles than Orange did, but appears to be almost the same as Cheyenne sailed a couple of weeks ago.

However tomorrow the wind is expected to build from the northwest. Although this will be directly from astern the 30-35 knot winds should see de Kersauson's trimaran eating up the miles once again giving her a fast passage from her present latitude of 33degS down into the Roaring Forties.

Ahead the south Atlantic high looks like it is heading south east towards South Africa and this may force de Kersauson south if he wants to remain in a strong belt of winds.

Having followed his progress all the way, the crew congratulate Jean-Luc van den Heede on his superb new record. It proves that tenacity always triumphs over all risks eventually. Even when you’re going around the world the wrong way single-handed in a monohull..