Fossett Challenges - 3 Days Ahead Of Record Pace

Sunday 28 March 2004 - 1710 GMT - 73 miles N of Los Rocedos Pedro e Sao Paulo (Br): After crossing the Equator at 0813 GMT this morning, Steve Fossett and his team aboard Cheyenne have finally hit the Doldrums - with inconsistent winds limiting their progress thus far Sunday afternoon to 153 miles (avg 12.75 kts the past 12 hrs). This still leaves them 3 days ahead of the 2002 RTW pace of Orange I.

Although the snapshot report of Sunday at 1710 GMT showed 18 kts of wind and 20.2 kts of boatspeed, this appears to be the result of a local squall. According to Tom Mattus of Commanders Weather the transition zone of light air and intermittent squalls between the SE trades and NE trades will continue for another 12 hours - until they are past 3N or even 4N latitude - unless luck shines on them in the form of swift breezes between the local storms.

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