Ellen Pushes On
ELLEN PUSHES TO THE LIMIT: LESS THAN 3 HOURS FROM BOURGNON PACE, BUT TRICKY CONDITIONS AHEAD
IN BRIEF
ELLEN CLOSES TO UNDER 3 HOURS from Laurent Bourgnon’s 1994 record pace…from being 24 hours behind on day 2 of her attempt, to only 47 miles behind at 0800gmt this morning. 674 miles to the Lizard finish line.
TACTICALLY TODAY IS THE BIG DAY as Ellen must gybe on to the other tack and head as close as possible to the finish line off of Lizard…timing this with the wind shifting slowly to the south west is tricky, but critical to her chances of breaking the record. The wind is expected to increase significantly this morning, before starting to die away tonight.
AFTER THE WIND, FATIGUE STILL THE BIGGEST PERFORMANCE FACTOR as Ellen tries to grab as many naps as possible before the final push to the line which will require all her remaining energy. Trying to sleep, even after 5 days of virtually none [estimate 2 hours per 24 max], is surprisingly difficult due to the stress of B&Q hurtling along at extraordinary speeds.
WEBCAM ONLINE: click on the webcam button at http://www.teamellen.com to catch a glimpse of Ellen at work…
AUDIO FROM A TIRED ELLEN recorded this morning with BBC Sport at 0800 GMT: http://www.ocftp2.com/audio/em270604a_uk.mp3
STATISTICS AT 0800GMT 26 JUNE
B&G data, compiled by Sony VAIO, sent via Thrane and Thrane Fleet77, uploaded via BT Broadband
Elapsed time: 5d 5h 50m
Ahead/behind record:
-47 miles, 2hr 46min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 2133
Distance covered in last 24 hrs: 477 nm
Distance to finish: 722
Position: 47 26 52N; 23 04 26W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 16.41
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 17.61
Current boat speed: 16 knots
ON CHANCES OF BREAKING RECORD
“Its being pretty tiring, we’ve had some pretty difficult conditions to handle over the past few days, so tactically its been improtant to push as hard as I can and keep driving. WE have just under 2 days to break the record, so its going to be a really hard push now….we have a gybe coming up later today, then we should be one heading in to the finish line. ….I’m feeling pretty tired…all I know is I’ll give all I’ve got until we cross the line, it maybe before it may be after. WE still have a chance, it depends on how these winds materialise this afternoon…
ON REST/SLEEP
“Sleep has been unbelievably brief since we left 5 days ago…its been mostly 10 minutes here and there, and mostly outside where its pretty cold and moist…”
WHERE DOES IT RATE ON DIFFICULTY SCALE IN YOUR SAILING CAREER
“This is definitely one of the most challenging things…racing a pretty big boat over an intense short period…every sail change is hard, when a sail needs changing you do it straight away…to keep that up….has made it very tiring”
“Haven’t had the ‘what am I doing here’ feeling yet on this trip, but it has been a huge challenge. It is still a huge challenge, its not just a few hours to keep going. We’re still two days away. You learn a lot about how you manage yourself and how aware you are of your mental state. I know I’ve pushed myself. I feel ok, looking forward to a bit more sleep in the next two hours, then it could be gennaker up so difficult to do anything”
HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR SANITY
“The race part is a small part of this project…we started building B&Q nearly a year ago, so many people have put in so much time to make her ready for a record attempt. When things are going wrong out here…. I think about the fact that I’m not just doing it for me, its for everyone who has put so much in…”
WEATHER BRIEFING: from Commander’s Weather to Ellen
Summary
1) No important changes from the earlier forecasts
2) Winds will start to back between now and 0900UTC
3) Will probably have to gybe between 0900 and 1200UTC Sun
4) Winds will continue to shift left during the remainder of Sun and could
reach a max left in the 210s
during Sun evening
a) wind directions will change little during Mon morning, but then
will slowly veer late Mon afternoon and evening
5) If we are S of 50N when we gybe, that is just fine
a) must go as fast as possible to the E or best angle, but point no
further S than 47 30-48N
b) will use the veering winds Mon afternoon to gybe to port and finish
on port gybe
6) Little change in wind speed the next 3-6 hrs, but wind speeds will start
to increase around
1000-1200UTC
a) wind speeds will frequently exceed 25 kts by 1600-1800UTC and could
touch 30 kts at times
b) wind speeds will diminish, once you are E of 12W
c) wind speeds look a kt or 2 stronger around 00UTC Tue, if we haven’t
finished by then!
Wind forecasts
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Sun, June 27
09: 260-240/17-23
12: 250-220/20-25, near 49 30N/21 30W
18: 220-240/24-30
Weather Partly cloudy
Mon, June 28 - winds diminish fairly quickly E of 12W
00: 210-230/22-28
06: 220-240/24-18
12: 220-250/22-14, near 49N/8 45W
18: 230-260/12-17
Weather Partly cloudy to fair
Tue, June 29
00: 250-280/14-8 - finish at Lizard
06: 250-220/ 5-10
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