Frustration continues

As strong winds further elude Ellen's giant cat

Day 12 0700 GMT	Position	24hr run	Av speed
Kingfisher2	33°27S 22°45W	266	11.08
Geronimo	33°27S 22°45W	459	19.11
Orange	25°48S 33°41W	252	10.51

Av/Max boat speed in last hour: 12.61 / 16.8 knots
Heading: 245
Av/Max wind speed in last hour: 8.84 / 12.5 knots
Wind direction: 125

The situation is not looking too good at the moment for Ellen's attempt on the Jules Verne Trophy record. It has been another relatively slow day and this morning Kingfisher2 is 370 miles to the west of Rio. Offshore Challenges estimate her to be 12 hours 40 minutes behind Orange's record pace and 52 hours 12 minutes behind Geronimo.

Conditions do not look like they are going to improve either as a high pressure system look set to establish itself to the south of Kingfisher2's ideal track towards the Southern Ocean providing unwanted headwinds.

Ellen reports from on board:

An unbelievable day once again... another painful day where our speed was so low that I'm not even sure I want do the calcultion. This afternoon we had no wind for about 6 hours - with a boat speed of 3 to four knots... Frustration has been the word of the day, and I know will be the word for the next few days too... We are just dying to get into some breeze and to feel Kingfisher2 take off beneath us. Seeing her just sitting in the water has been quite unnatural for her.

Since Plymouth she has not been so still - in fact, I think we were sailing around more on our mooring there than the we were yesterday in the light winds. I guess at the end of the day we can see the light at the end of the tunnel - and also we can try to focus on doing all we do better - so that everyone pulls together more and concentrates on what is coming.

We are still learning all the time, me especially, and we are having more discussions together now, where we are able to discuss our thoughts and changes. As I sit here and type it is 5.30 in the morning. The moon set about an hour or so ago, after lighting up the horizon like it was the only path to take in the world. There was the odd star around but soon after, all was blanketed with a layer of grey cloud... But it was not such a negative thing because that's the sea.

The air warmed - the wind increased and we took off. A real change from sailing slowly in 12 knots, to helming a flying machine. I was driving as the wind increased - all of a sudden with the new wind we were at 26 knots! The power is awesome - so much faster than the wind we had. Must go now as very tired and lacking sleep! We'll be heading south on the next low we can catch, then I'll need that sleep.
ex

CREW MEMBER FOCUS: Kevin McMeel (CAN) - Assistant Navigator / First Aid
Few days into this trip and crewman Andrew Preece (in charge of Media & Comms) mistakenly refered to Kevin as American... 100 emails later, putting Andrew right on Kevin's nationality, we realised (a) how popular Kevin is "back home" and (b) there is no messing on the nationality issue! Kevin (44) has raced over 87,500 miles offshore but has never done a circumnavigation: "I wanted to do the Jules Verne with the best team assembled - I had no hesitation of signing up with this team when I finally got the call," explained Kevin. "The primary objective is to go out there and break the record but we have to ensure everyone's safety and get back in one piece. I specialise in emergency surgery but, don't worry, I trained for 12 years so the guys are in good hands!" Kevin joined Assa Abloy's Volvo syndicate in 2002 to assist primary navigator Mark Rudiger.