HELLOMOTO lies in 8th place, under 140 miles from Arcelor Dunkerque, as Conrad sails through what he describes as a ‘mini-Doldrums’ with light, shifty winds & the odd squall.

• With 4,530 miles to cover until the finish – which is still longer than the longest transatlantic race – the last 5,000 miles are proving to be the hardest fought ones of the entire race

• Conrad reports that the port ram is showing the same symptoms as the failed starboard ram did and so is currently working on a solution to cant the keel with his shore team, whilst keeping the boat heading in the right direction at speed in the fickle conditions – an exhausting set of challenges for one day

HELLOMOTO this morning lies in 8th place, under 140 miles from Arcelor Dunkerque, as Conrad sails through what he describes as a ‘mini-Doldrums’ with shifting and light winds around 10 knots, but also the occasional squall of increased winds. In the last week HELLOMOTO has made extremely good course northwards towards the finish, making for a crossing point up ahead at the Doldrums, but currently the boat is heading towards the Brazilian coast line as Conrad meets north easterly headwinds. A few hundred miles up the track HELLOMOTO will reach the stable SE Trade winds before the Equator. With 4,530 miles to cover until the finish – which is still longer than the longest transatlantic race – the last 5,000 miles are proving to be the hardest fought ones of the entire race as both man and machine suffer from ‘wear and tear’ after 20,000 miles under the belt.

On Tuesday 25th January in the evening, just hours after Nick Moloney had announced that the keel had broken away from Skandia, which forced his sudden retirement, Conrad reported to have lost all pressure in his keel and discovered that the starboard ram had failed. The hydraulic ram system to cant the keel is designed to cope by isolating the faulty ram as they work independently and are used as a back up for each other. Conrad followed this procedure and carried on sailing using the port ram alone to cant the keel. After two days, Conrad reported that the port ram was showing similar symptoms as the starboard ram. After discussion with his shore team, Conrad is today looking into different solutions of being able to cant the keel to some degree.

Given the current fluky conditions over the last 24 hours, Conrad has not had much rest as he needs to be regularly changing sails and altering course to keep the boat moving in the right direction at speed as well as making progress with canting the keel.

Please go to www.conradhumphreys.com and check UK Skipper Breaking News window under the main image plus the ticker for further updates on Conrad’s progress during the weekend.

Notes on the keel: the carbon keel on HELLOMOTO is a canting keel, and it is swung from side to side by two hydraulic rams, which Conrad controls with the push of a button. There are two rams positioned on the port and starboard side of the keel and as the keel is canted one ram will extend and the other will contract. They do work together but are independent and so are also a back up for each other. The keel is canted in order to increase righting moment (stability), so as the breeze strengthens, the keel is canted further over.

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