Fossett Challenges - Valentines Day Present As Cheyenne Further Reduces Deficit To Orange 2002

14 February 2004 0510 GMT - 803 nm west of Freetown, Sierra Leone - A lot can happen in a week - a dramatic uphill race to the startline, a tactical and sometimes tedious haul south and west to catch the tradewinds, sail repairs, then 2 days' strong running S in steady NE trades while being pursued by a relentless Geronimo.

One full week into their round the world record attempt (averaging over 15.6 kts so far), Skipper Steve Fossett and Cheyenne continued their drive South into the weekend - once more alone on the course as the big French tri now returns to base at Brest to effect sail repairs and take a fresh start. With Geronimo's restart at least 10 days away and record-holder Bruno Peyron's new Orange II still waiting in the wings to take up the battle, Fossett and navigator Adrienne Cahalan are carefully watching the forecast - and the series of dots on their electronic charts representing the course and locations of Peyron's original Orange on the 2002 RTW.

Having lost over 630 miles to Orange's 2002 track early in the attempt, over the past 2-1/2 days the Cheyenne team have put up their second consecutive 450+ nm day to reduce that deficit to less than 500 miles (494 nm measured on the water between the 2 boats' positions; 469 nm if measured as the difference on the great circle course to the next waypoint - Cape of Good Hope). See NOBELTEC zoom map for details.

Broadcast advisory: Seamaster Sailing, the new international monthly TV series, sends out its February report this weekend - featuring footage of Cheyenne and an interview with Steve Fossett. Amongst other outlets, see SKY Sports in UK and Eire Sunday and Monday, Feb 15 and 16. For more details and other broadcasters around the world, see www.seamastersailing.com.

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