Dodging the Canaries

After a slow day Steve Fossett and Cheyenne hook into the Trades PLUS Brian Thompson reports from on board

Position at 05h10GMT: 29deg 33.480N 17deg 42.720W Course/speed: 253 deg 14.2 knots TWS/TWD: 12 knots 017deg

Having covered another 130+ miles of westing over the past 12 hours - tactically working her way to reach projected increasing N/NE winds later Wednesday, Steve Fossett's 125ft catamaran Cheyenne finished her fourth day on the RTW sailing record course this morning just over a day behind the virtual 2002 position of Orange, the current record holder. But real-life competition lurks in the shadows as well.

Fossett and Cheyenne lost half a day - plus the knock-on effect of missing a weather gate - stuck too far east in high pressure on Sunday (day 2) and continue to pay - analysis of Geronimo's first 36 hours on course (from their Sunday pm start) shows the 110ft French tri to have already reduced the gap by 198 nm during this early segment.

But Cheyenne's strong run south on Tuesday, coupled with stronger N/NE breezes expected tonight keep Fossett's weather team 'pretty confident' of a targeted eight day trip to the equator - an acceptable run given the distinctly non-traditional start pattern taken by both boats so far on the course.


From on board Cheyenne, Brian Thompson reports:

It’s been a busy time in the Cheyenne sail loft, set up amongst the storage boxes in the long, narrow forepeak of the port hull. Each of the standby watches have had a rotating team of two working full time stitching up the 14 webbing strips holding the head of the blast reacher to the rest of the sail.

I calculated that there were 900 holes made through the thick fabric and with two passes of the spectra thread that is 1800 passes of the needle with the palm pushing through on one side and the pliers pulling out the needle on the other. The whole job took 20 hours. Next we need to re-hoist the sail to get the luff tension correct and then furl it properly as much of it is unfurled and crushed into the forepeak at present.

Out here we are having more smooth sailing, a little light of wind tonight as we are having to go through another ridge of high pressure, but we expect increasing winds today. It is going to be one long downwind leg from here to the equator, with a few big gybes to get us down past the doldrums. The big gennaker is up and unless it gets too breezy we should be flying this sail for the next 4 days.

The night has been spectacular, the stars were incredibly bright, not a cloud in the sky, the Milky Way stretching across the heavens and the tiny Plaeides constellation right above us. One of the brightest meteors I have ever seen, like a flare going off in the distance, streaked down from the north just to add to the show.

In the end I did not get to see the Madeira islands yesterday as it was just a little too hazy. We have kept well away from the notorious wind shadows of the Canaries, so those islands will have to pass unseen as well.

As we are passing close to the Canaries it is getting much warmer, light thermals are all we need on deck at night and as the sun comes up we will be getting out the shorts and sunshirts for the first time. Time for our first change of base layer.. its been brilliant how dry we have remained even in the rough conditions of the start and first day, our smock tops with latex dry suit seals have really worked perfectly, normally I might have had to change base layers because they have got damp through the neck and sleeves,
but nothing has got past the seals yet thanks to Musto!

Onwards into the NE Tradewinds....

Brian