Fossett Challenges - Geronimo Now Tracking Cheyenne's Pace To Cape Of Good Hope

Wednesday 10 March 2004 - 1710 GMT - 2588 miles W/NW of Cape Horn: The 33rd day of Cheyenne's Round The World record attempt saw Steve Fossett and his team pointed in the right direction again - SE towards Cape Horn - after several days of investment in a NE position to avoid the worst of the gale to their S. They have covered 245 miles over the past 12 hours - every one of them towards the next waypoint.

Cheyenne's lead over the 2002 RTW position of Orange is now some 1900 - 2000 miles, but will only increase if Fossett and crew can avoid further detours en-route to the Cape.

George Caras of Commanders Weather:
"They are waiting for the cold front to pass them. The wind is holding from the West for now, so they can keep on an E/SE heading towards the mark. They should get to between 54 - 55 S by 1200z tomorrow. Once again they'll need to avoid the light air of the coming High, then catch the next Low just right for the ride to the Chilean coast."

Watch Captain Brian Thompson (excerpted from www.brianthompsonsailing.com) adds from his Day 32 diary:
"After our smooth run across the Indian Ocean and past New Zealand we are now faced with numerous weather hurdles before we can round Cape Horn. There is a gale ahead on Thursday, then a high pressure, then another low, plus other features in our path. It won't be easy or particularly fast; we are not going to escape the Southern Ocean easily." Brian's complete report is printed below.

An ocean and a half back, former record holder Olivier de Kersauson is completely recovered from a slow doldrums passage and continued to hurtle towards the SE as well - aiming at another Cape, this time Cape of Good Hope. 13-1/2 days into Geronimo's restarted RTW bid, the 1100' French tri was exactly on Cheyenne's pace (distance measured ahead to the Cape) at the same time.

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