'LAUNCHING' INTO BLACK HOLES...

SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 15.2.03
Position: 42 06' S 15 32' W

Ahead/Behind the record: 5 hours 53 minutes behind Orange (using WP5) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 74 hours 53 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP5) DAY 16 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 559 nm, Orange 436 nm, Geronimo 529 nm End DAY 16 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 19037 nm, Orange 18942 nm, Geronimo 17838 nm Click on POSITIONS link at http://www.teamkingfisher.com to see graphic images comparing the tracks of these 3 challengers at 4 hourly intervals.

Av/Max boat speed in last hour: 20.29 / 32.2  knots
Av/Max wind speed in last hour:20.21  / 34.1 knots    Wind direction:308 Distance to WP5 42 00'S / 18 28'W 490nm south of Cape of Good Hope : 1506 nm (theorectical shortest distance)

IN BRIEF:

* KINGFISHER2 CONTINUES AT BLINDING PACE, gaining more time on Jules Verne record, with a 24 hour run of 559 miles. This morning sailing in 40 knots of wind with just the storm jib up after wind instruments fail during the night. Sailing 'blind' at high speed is one of the hardest things to do in a big multihull where the apparent wind angle changes so quickly as the boat accelerates down the waves. Team working to fix the problem...no audio this morning as Ellen rather occupied, but a very quick call to base to alert us of the problem: "We're still blasting down the waves with just the storm jib up, as we need stay in control of the boat....without the wind instruments it's pretty hard to steer at the moment...."

* WIND HAS NOW SWITCHED INTO THE SOUTH and KINGFISHER2 is sailing off the wind on starboard gybe [wind on her right hand side]. Forecasted wind for this afternoon from Meeno sums it up: 12-18UT TWD 220 35-33 kts, gusts 40-42kts; SEA 5-6m SWELL DIRECTION SW. [TWD = True Wind Direction]. With the swell having switched very quickly from NW to SW this will have led to confused seas as the two sets clash for a period.

* GERONIMO SEES ICEBERG for the first time in her Jules Verne, and surprisingly far north at a latitude of 53 degrees South. The weather is looking a little more complicated for them with high pressure systems disturbing the normally consistent flow of depressions... http://www.grandsrecords.com

* LIFE IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN MAKES LIFE ON BOARD UNCOMFORTABLE even simple tasks can take three times as long... Ellen's reports arrive looking like they have been typed by an ENIGMA machine. Email and contact with shore will become more intermittant but the guys on board will continue to send back news via their Clie PDAs... (see feature story at http://www.teamkingfisher.com)

Enter the Comet competition to win some top prizes including Ellen MacArthur's autiobiography 'Taking on the World' plus a SONY CLIE...

Kingfisher operating company of the day B&Q: B&Q is the outright home improvement market leader in the UK through its 314 Supercentre and Warehouse stores. B&Q also operates 5 stores in China and 12 stores in Taiwan*. (*Figures as at 2.2.2002) http://www.diy.com

ELLEN LATEST LOG: communications by BT [broadband users check out video and other high speed content at http://kingfisher.sportal.com]

....last night kind of summed it all up really. There was a full moon beaming out over KINGFISHER2, it was almost as if the deck was floodlit by the heavens. As I wrote the nights tactics out I didn't even need a torch. We were sailing at speeds of 25 to 30 knots with the solent and the full main the boat felt as if she was flying just skimming over the waves which were even and flat as we sailed into a zone which had been dominated by a high presure. It reminded me of the Vendée - sailing with a full moon - the water shining and my heart feeling full of life and energy. Though little was said on the watch last night I had a funny feeling that I won't the only one feeling this. The lack of chatter was testament to the unbelieveable beauty this world has to offer us. Once again I was stunned, absolutely stunned - and I hope that's a feeling I will still have for the rest of my life.... ex

JARGON BUSTER : WHY DOES A YACHT NEED WIND INSTRUMENTS? Wind instruments are particularly important on a yacht like KINGFISHER2. The sails are trimmed to an angle of attack to match where the wind is coming from relative to the heading of the yacht. However, because the 'apparent' wind (which depends on how fast you are going as this brings the apparent wind forward - imagine running at 50km/h, the wind is in your face) is what matters in this respect rather than the 'true' wind, on a multihull that is always travelling very fast compared with the true wind speed the apparent wind changes very very quickly. On a dark night, at speed, the B&G instruments can often be on the only thing the helmsmen can see - and with his instincts and 'feel', the only way he can keep the boat launching in a fast but safe direction as he weaves the boat through the seaway. In such conditions with spray constantly blinding the helmsman, to lose the instruments would be like blinding a Formula 1 driver half way around the track...

JULES VERNE USHANT (START) TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TIMES:
2003 Geronimo (de Kersauson) 16 days 14 hours 35 minutes 21 seconds

2002 Orange (Peyron) 18 days 18 hours 40 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 01:28GMT Tuesday 18.2.03

1997 Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 21 days 18 hours 17 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 01:05GMT Friday 21.2.03

1994 ENZA (Blake/Knox-Johnston) 19 days 17 hours 53 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 0041GMT Wednesday 19.2.03

1993 Commodore Explorer (Peyron) 21 days 12 hours 48 minutes
To beat them, KF2 must cross longitude 018 28'W before 19:36 Thursday 20.2.03

OMEGA official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2'S Jules Verne record attempt