Fossett Challenges - Chased By Geronimo To The Cape Verde Islands And The Equator

12 February 2004 - 17:10 GMT - N of Cape Verde Islands: Cheyenne continued her passage South throughout Thursday carried by the consistent NE Tradewinds she hopes will propel her to 0 degrees latitude by the middle of this weekend.

Starting the day some 300 nm ahead of rival Geronimo, both boats are now thought to be making good speed in similar wind, so the next critical 'gate' for both boats will be the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Covergence Zone) - 'the Doldrums'. around the equator.

Watch Captain David Scully described Wednesday night and Thursday's Tradewinds sailing:
"A good, fast night of sailing under big genaker and main. We dropped the big one at dawn on account of too much wind, and put up the newly repaired blast. Shortly thereafter we dropped it again to make adjustments to the leach cord, flung it back up and sailed for several hours before switching back to the big one. An energetic morning in the sail trim department.

This big sail is the workhorse of our inventory when we are sailing free like this. In 20 kts. of wind it takes a lot of talent and concentration to avoid overloading it. A misjudged wave, or a lapse in judgement, will put us too close to the wind, and increase the apparent wind load on the sail to the point where it explodes! Not a happy thought, with all this VMG running in our future. At the moment though, the angle is good, and the speed is intoxicating. "

Position Report
Date: 12/02/2004
Time: 17h10 GMT
Latitude: 21 04.300 N
Longitude: 25 01.090 W
Avg Speed: -- kts
Dist. to Finish: 19 827.2nm

For further details and regular position updates, please see: www.fossettchallenge.com