KINGFISHER2 HITS MYSTERY OBJECT IN NIGHT BUT NECK
& NECK WITH ORANGE PACE ...
SUMMARY:
0700 GMT 19.2.03
Position: 44 38'S 27 28'E
Ahead/Behind
the record: 0 hours 30 minutes behind Orange (using
WP6) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 50 hours 25 minutes
behind Geronimo (using WP6) DAY 20 24 hour run
(point to point) : Kingfisher2 463 nm, Orange
500 nm, Geronimo 415 nm End DAY 20 distance to
go (on theoretical course) : KF2 17107 nm, Orange
17099 nm, Geronimo 16301 nm
Boat
speed: 20.1 knots
Course: 097
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north
of Kerguelen Islands : 1776 nm (theorectical
shortest distance)
IN
BRIEF:
*
KINGFISHER2 HITS SUBMERGED OBJECT AT HIGH SPEED...Ellen..."during
the night suddenly there was a load bang, and
the boat shuddered...we had hit something with
the starboard rudder. We slowed the boat down
to check, and we've a little repair to do on the
fixings but it appears not to be a major problem,
thankfully...we don't know what it was but hitting
any object at speed is always a concern"...
*
NO MAJOR DAMAGE BUT HEART-STOPPING MOMENT...Neal
McDonald on deck at the time added: "First
thoughts are, you could be sinking here...a major
concern but we ascertained that we weren't and
then checked the whole boat for damage...in retrospect
we were very lucky..."
*
KINGFISHER2 NECK AND NECK WITH ORANGE pace only
30 minutes behind which equates to just 8 miles
and pulling back to nearly 2 days behind Geronimo...
*
KINGFISHER2 CROSSED THE LONGITUDE OF CAPE OF GOOD
HOPE yesterday morning at 0918 GMT taking 19 days
2 hours from the start to the point of longitude
below South Africa... The notorious Cape Horn
is 10,000 miles to the east - further than KINGFISHER2
has sailed to date - with Cape Leeuwin (SW tip
of Australia) in between...
*
AFTER FIVE FULL ON DAYS of crazy Southern Ocean
surfing, conditions onboard KINGFISHER2 are decidedly
calmer this morning...but it was expected, and
therefore little stress aboard. Speed this morning
has remained close to record pace...
*
WEATHER TRANSITION : ELLEN and Meeno studying
hard as ever...."We have a northerly breeze
of about 20 knots, and we're hoping to hold this
for next 12 hours as we traverse the convergence
zone between the high pressure and low pressure
system...the other side of this we're expecting
very strong north westerlies..."
*
TIME SHIFTS ON BOARD FOR THE CREW as GMT becomes
meaningless as KINGFISHER2 starts to cross the
longitudes from west to east at speed... "We
will shift the time zone we operate on the boat
for the first of several times. If we didn't shift
our time, eventually we would be eating breakfast
as it gets dark and dinner as it gets light..."
Andrew Preece (read full crew news at http://www.teamkingfisher.com
on the home page or click on the crew portrait
icon to read today's news plus news since the
start)
*
GERONIMO FORCED TO SAIL FURTHER distance due to
staying in the north after concerns about icebergs
remain in the minds of the crew... http://www.grandsrecords.com
Kingfisher
operating company of the day RÉNO DÉPOT
: Réno-Dépot is a Canadian retailer
of home improvement products. http://www.renodepot.com
NEAL
MCDONALD AUDIO: communications by BT (broadband
users check out video and other high speed content
at http://kingfisher.sportal.com)
"We
were probably going around 24 knots when we hit
something - first thoughts were that it would
take only a very small article to rip the boat
open. Clearly, major concern, you could be siking
here and secondary thought is that this isn't
going to do our record attempt any good either
way... First few seconds, your major concern is
that we could be sinking - you hear the bang and
you know that the force of the water along could
tear a great gash in the hull and that's where
your immediate concerns lie. But we are lucky
that we have two hulls not just one! First we
ascertained that we weren't sinking and then checked
for damage (object struck the rudder and some
repairs had to be made to the rudder fixings)...
In retrospect we were very lucky..."
PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY MCMURDO PAINS WESSEX
: McMurdo are the official supplier of safety
equipment to Team Kingfisher. http://www.teamkingfisher.com/mcmurdo
OMEGA
official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2'S Jules Verne
record attempt
