BIG LOW , HIGH STRESS BUT STILL LIFE IS GOOD!

SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 17.2.03 (position taken at 07:12)
Position: 38 38'S 07 06'E

Ahead/Behind the record: 9 hours 39 minutes behind Orange (using WP5) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 64 hours 51 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP6) DAY 18 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 547 nm, Orange 530 nm, Geronimo 366 nm End DAY 18 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 18089 nm, Orange 17934 nm, Geronimo 17051 nm

Boat speed: 19 knots
Heading: 079
Distance to WP5 42 00'S / 18 28'E 490nm south of Cape of Good Hope : 558 nm (theorectical shortest distance)

IN BRIEF:

* LOW PRESSURE, HIGH STRESS as KINGFISHER2 prepares to be hammered by a big depression bearing down on them...position well, gain miles, save the boat - position badly, and you are forced to slow the boat to save her from damage...

* GO EAST TEAM KINGFISHER! Ellen and the team cross the Greenwich meridian yesterday evening - and are now counting up the degrees east of longitude as they head towards the south-east tip of Australia and New Zealand, thousands of miles away, where in between they will cross back into the west and will have completed half the journey...

* ANOTHER 500+ MILE DAY - THAT'S 4 IN A ROW! The north to 38 south has meant KINGFISHER2 has dropped further behind Orange's time but gained on de Kersauson by over 8 hours. With 558 miles to go to the Cape of Good Hope - its looking impossible for KINGFISHER2 to cross longitude of 18 28'E by 01:28 GMT tomorrow morning to better Orange's time from Ushant...

* GERONIMO HOPING FOR WAY OUT today after difficult few days gybing downwind, pinned by ice in the south, and light winds in the north... http://www.grandsrecords.com

* SEE LATEST WEBCAM IMAGES at http://www.teamkingfisher.com (click on PHOTCAM) showing the Southern Ocean in its glory from the bow, the stern or the top of the mast...

Listen to Ellen's latest audio this morning... Visit http://www.teamkingfisher.com and click on the 'Audio' icon on the menu bar or download from http://www.ocftp.com/audio/em170203a_uk.mp3

Kingfisher operating company of the day BRICO DEPOT: Brico Depôt is a growing French Home Improvement chain, primarily serving experienced home craftsmen and small building contractors. http://www.brico-depot.com

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

...as I sit here typing we are once again racing along in KINGFISHER2. I glance up at the speed over ground - and we're at over 30 knots. We've been playing the escapee this morning as we power along ahead of the coldfront of the approaching low... The objective has been to sail along fast enough to stay before it - and fast we have been. Our boat speed has been averaging 26 knots for hours. This time, though the wind is our opponent, and the waves our allie. We are luckily hosing down the waves, which though large are less aggressive than those of 48 hours ago...

It's been a busy few days really, with a mix of repairs, weather decisions and numerous manoevres on deck. On what was probably the darkest of nights, all our wind instruments failed... First of all a small error which transpired into a complete failure.. It took 12 hours to fix..following each wire to each sensor. I played with settings, replaced the circuit boards - then eventually I discovered the problem existed in the connection system under the mast. Unfortunately, all the wiring connections are in a tiny compartment inside the main beam. There was a small hole which I was able to climb through - then a space just big enough for me to fit my shoulders in. I went in to do what I throught might have been 20 minutes soldering - but extracted myself from the hole after just 2 hours! The hardest part was getting tiny 4 strand electrical wires into a connection box as we pounded along... Each time a wave came up and hit the underside of the beam, a jet of water squirted up through the drain holes beneath me, and the only way I could communicate with the guys was by radio as it was far too rough to hear anyone's voice. KINGFISHER2 may only be 60 feet wide, but 60 feet is a long way to shout in 40 knots of wind - and when you're hidden in a small hole you have no chance...

The weather looks okay for the next few days - the low beneath us should slow, then allow us to sail lower down towards the SE. It's time to get south now, where it will get colder - but where we will sail a shorter distance. The place where even a damp sleeping bag feels as close to heaven as you could possibly imagine - and the four hours on deck seem like a lifetime - as you try to keep warm. Life is different here in the southern ocean, very different. And it's only just begining...

ELLEN PHONECALL 0500GMT:

"Just come down from on deck after steering - its 5.00am and its light here. As we move east the daylight hours are changing. It's amazing to be sailing such a powerful machine, just charging along... We've hardly got any sail up - 3 reefs in the main and a storm jib - in 40 knots of wind, sailing downwind. Boat just riding down waves incredibly fast. The waves are rather large but not aggressive so we are able to slide down them rather than get hit by them - just an amazing feeling. Feels good to be covering so many miles after covering so few in the early stages...

"Things are good on board - the sea is easier on the boat - we are averaging high speeds but not too violent motion on board. We can sleep more easily, cook, actually operate - before we were reaching in big waves and the motion of the boat was really violent.

"We have a full moon in the Southern Ocean - it's so beautiful it's hard to describe... Sailing along in the middle of the night and it feels like daylight - you can see everyone's faces, see the spray, the waves - all lit up by the lightness from the moon - just fantastic...!"

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'E 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'E 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'E 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'E before 19:36 Thursday 20.2.03

OMEGA official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2'S Jules Verne record attempt

PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY INSENSYS: Insensys providing load sensing equipment to Team Kingfisher. http://www.teamkingfisher.com/insensys