Ellen on the Edge
DAY6: MEDIA UPDATE: “I’m on the edge, right on the edge”
IN BRIEF
B&Q NOW GYBED ON TO STARBOARD AND HEADING FOR THE FINISH LINE: wind forecast to increase to up to a stressful 35 knots tonight then moderate by morning…a high pressure night of sailing downwind under gennaker in store for an already exhausted ELLEN
FATIGUE MAYBE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE….”I feel *****. Really tired. last night was terrible. I can’t even remember what we talked about this morning.” But not much chance of rest…”Pretty hard to get rest when you’ve got the gennaker up…definitely going to snooze…not going to make it through tomorrow if I don’t.”
AVERAGE SPEED NOW REQUIRED TO BREAK RECORD IS 18.5 knots down the direct route. Tough if wind dies, or forces her to gybe. Tough if equipment fails after 5 full on days of pressure. Tough if skipper hits the fatigue wall that she is very close to. But doable.
FORCED BY THE WEATHER, ELLEN HAS SAILED NEARLY 20% FURTHER than Laurent Bourgnon’s record run track, yet still has a chance to beat his 10 year old record.
WEBCAM ONLINE: click on the webcam button at http://www.teamellen.com to catch a glimpse of Ellen at work…
STATISTICS AT 1400GMT 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:
-56 miles, 3hr 15min behind
Existing record: 7d 2h 34m 42s
Distance covered: 2115
Distance covered in last 24 hrs: 438 nm
Distance to finish: 640
Position: 48 21 52N; 21 21 24W
Average boat speed (VMG) towards finish so far: 16.29
Average boat speed (VMG) now required to beat record: 18.29
Current boat speed: 16.6 knots
1215GMT AUDIO UPDATE WITH ELLEN: TRANSCRIPT
Well we’ve gybed…broken 4 battens…doesn’t matter, we’re a day a way, don’t think it will hurt the sail…not prepared to worry about it too much, not going to fix them, not in the time we’ve got….its the top 4…hope it will be fine when we are going downwind later in 35 knots of wind.
I feel *****. Really tired. Last night was terrible. I can’t even remember what we talked about this morning…
22 to 25 knots of wind…25 is the max for the gennaker, but I unrolled it anyway…we got the shift, greater than predicted. We’re sailing right down the line now, we might have to gybe again before we get in…I was putting everything away, neat, and was thinking I’m sure we’ll have to gybe again…
Distance to go now is 695 miles, I’ve got to average 18.5 knots between here and the finish…doing 19 now…tonight when the breeze kicks in its going to be strong. Pierre reckons 18Z I’ll have between 30 to 35knots, then down to 25 to 30knots midnight…need to be on the ball tonight to get the gennaker back up. I’m going to try leaving the gennaker up furled…think it should be already if I get a good furl.
No furling winch [broken on day 1], so its a bit of a *****.
Trying to be reasonable and calm myself down at every opportunity, cos i’m really knackered, Don’t know why I’m still smiling. I’m on the edge, right on the edge, just trying to stay the right side of it….and eat, be chilled, just spent half hour going over boat, not deps need doing, but it makes me feel more ready to deal with what is going to happen. Tonight is going to be a tough one.
Pretty hard to get rest when you’ve got the gennaker up…definitely going to snooze…not going to make it through tomorrow if I don’t.
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