B&Q Records
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Cape Horn to the Equator was not a fast phase of the course for Macarthur. Her time was 374 hours, 64 slower than Joyon.
Subject to WSSRC ratification, she has also set a new solo Equator-Equator record of 51 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes.
Looking ahead Macarthur’s advantage is nearly 35 hours. From the equator to the finish Joyon took 262 hours/10 days 22 hours. This gives Macarthur 12 days and 9 hours/297 hours to reach the finish and set a new record. In the history of the Jules Verne fully crewed attempts final stage times have ranged from 189 hours for Cheyenne to 352 for Geonimo. The average has been 280 hours. So, Macarthur would seem to have some built in slack.
About her chances of meeting that time deadline she says:
“I think realistically the biggest hurdle we have is the high pressure which is hovering around the western approach to the English Channel at the moment. The movement of that high pressure will dictate whether the record is breakable or not, pretty much, and if it decides to eat us up and sit over us and not allow us to get to the finish line or, in fact, sit over the finish line, we could be in big trouble. But if that high pressure helps us and is situated in a reasonable position to allow us to sail into it and out of it, or indeed round the west side of it then that will help us enormously. So our destiny really is in the hands of the high pressure system. We’ve still got 3000 miles to go, which is a one-seventh of the whole trip. We’ve just got to try and grunt up and get on with it. The good news is that the breeze will get lighter as we get further north - it will be at a better angle to sail and good for the preservation of the boat too.”
ELLEN MACARTHUR SOLO ROUND THE WORLD - NEW SOLO TIMES:
Ushant-Equator 8d 18h 20m 7/12/04 0230GMT (taking 14h 3m off Joyon’s time)
Ushant-Cape of Good Hope 19d 9h 46m 17/12/04 1756GMT (taking 10h 45m off Joyon’s time)
Ushant-Cape Leeuwin 29d 14h 5m 27/12/04 2215GMT (taking 17h 24m off Joyon’s time)
Ushant-Cape Horn 44d 23h 36m 12/1/04 0746GMT (taking 4 days 2h 45m off Joyon’s time)
Ushant-Equator 60d 13h 35m 27/1/05 2145GMT (taking 1d 10h 50m off Joyon’s time)
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