KINGFISHER2 MAKES UP TIME ON RECORD & GERONIMO..

SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 18.2.03
Position: 41 55'S 17 33'E

Ahead/Behind the record: 1 hours 35 minutes behind Orange (using WP6) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 53 hours 24 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP6) DAY 19 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 517 nm, Orange 487 nm, Geronimo 344 nm End DAY 19 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 17570 nm, Orange 17595 nm, Geronimo 16716 nm

Boat speed: 23.5 knots
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 2239 nm (theorectical shortest distance)

IN BRIEF:

* KINGFISHER2 MAKES UP 8 HOURS ON ORANGE'S RECORD TO JUST 1.5 HOURS BEHIND...and 11 hours behind on GERONIMO's time after another 500+ MILE DAY but bit further to go until KINGFISHER2 crosses Cape of Good Hope longitude at 18 28'E (ETA 1000GMT) - chance of bettering Orange's time passed in the early hours of this morning... Whilst KINGFISHER2's time to longitude of Cape of Good Hope is about 7 hours longer than Orange's, KINGFISHER2 is 100 miles further south, therefore closer to the direct route.

* KINGFISHER2 sailed a blindingly fast day yesterday - the boats fifth 500+ mile 24-hour run in a row - broad reaching in 35 to 40 knots of wind, all day she managed to stay ahead of the front that was spinning off of the chasing low pressure system - at times averaging 26 knots over the ground...

* IN THE END THE LOW GAVE UP! As the low pressure system rolled over the top of the previous low pressure system that KINGFISHER2 had been sailing in as she entered the Southern Ocean, it dropped south and merged with it....leaving Ellen to refocus her thoughts on a high pressure ridge (area of lighter winds) ahead - rather than how to avoid the storm, its now, how to avoid the calms

* READ LATEST CREW NEWS FROM ANDREW... "from being an elegant, surfing, sliding beast, she becomes a recalcitrant pig that needs to be wrestled at the wheel..." Vist http://www.teamkingfisher.com for full crew news on home page or click on any of the crew portrait icons for all their news since the start...

* TEMPERATURES RISE AGAIN having climbed north yesterday, the water temperature has risen and conditions are reasonably comfortable [this is a relative term] onboard - but perhaps not for long... "Right now, we are on starboard gybe, we have just set the storm spinnaker and we are heading south east diving for real this time into the cold and lonely latitudes. We dipped into the 40s a few days ago but came up for air. This time I think it's for real..." Andrew Preece.

* YOU CAN FOLLOW ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE, check out ellenwap.com on your GPRS phones to get the latest news on the move...

* GERONIMO has completed 17000 miles averaging 19 knots and are still 2 days ahead of Orange's record... The crew are holding a northerly track pushing eastwards towards Cape Horn for which they will still have to drop south - there is 50 knots at the centre of the depression which they may be forced to sail into to get round the Horn... http://www.grandsrecords.com

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/em180203a_uk.mp3

Kingfisher operating company of the day Dubois Matériaux: Dubois Matériaux is a French Home Improvement wholesaler providing new building and renovation materials to building trade professionals, while supplying Castorama stores. http://www.castorama.com

ELLEN PHONECALL 0500GMT: communications by BT (broadband users check out video and other high speed content at http://kingfisher.sportal.com)

"Pretty tired... trying to decide what to do with the weather. There is a ridge to the right and we're sailing into a high pressure area with the low below us but pretty inactive. Sailing as high as we can until we decide when to gybe - all routing saying to stay a bit higher then gybe under ridge to get south. Bit frustrating that we had to sail round top of low yesterday but it was the best thing to do with the forecasted sea state - it was a big detour but the safer thing to do..."

LATEST EXCERPTS FROM CREW NEWS (see http://www.teamkingfisher.com for full crew news on the home page or click on any of the crew portrait icons to see their news...)

ANDREW PREECE: The waves are so impressive you get a thrill from surfing them all day until the wind shifts by a few degrees and the wind/wave alignment goes out of whack which kills the fun and the speed instantaneously as the boat suddenly, from being an elegant, surfing, sliding beast, becomes a recalcitrant pig that needs to be wrestled at the wheel and slams uncomfortably into the oceanic confusion. That's when sleeping is impossible, when pouring drinks is impossible and when working in the media station or the nav station becomes difficult and precarious as you never quite know when the next one will strike...

KEVIN MCMEEL: I have not often seen seas like this. They are majestic mountains of water which gradually overtake us as they roll unimpeded by any land mass in their journey eastward. The sun glints through the tops of them highlighting the green in the blue just before they turn a foamy white. They almost look delicate at that moment like the spun glass you might see in a craft store. They occasionally come aboard to remind me what it is like to be hit with a sheet of plywood and dragged to the end of your tether unless some solid object intervenes. They wipe away our tracks moments after we have passed...

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 Marlow: Marlow provide rope and running rigging to Team Kingfiser. There is over 1.3km of Marlow rope on board (enough to run around an athletics track three and a quarter times). http://www.teamkingfisher.com/marlow