ISLANDS, ICEBERG DANGER AND COMPLEX WEATHER

SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 21.2.03 (position taken at 0728 GMT)
Position: 50 32'S 42 51'E (292 miles SE Marion Islands)

Ahead/Behind the record: 4 hours 8 minutes behind Orange (using WP6) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 73 hours 42 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP7) DAY 22 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 466 nm, Orange 397 nm, Geronimo 463 nm End DAY 22 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 16443 nm, Orange 16377 nm, Geronimo 15264 nm

Boat speed: 21.2 knots
Course: 077
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 1112 nm (theorectical shortest distance)

IN BRIEF:

* KINGFISHER2 HAS BETTER 24 HOUR RUN ON DAY 22 than Orange or Geronimo but slowing the boat to make repairs the day before and the light wind conditions has had a knock-on effect on record pace... Now up to speed heading just north of east in good breeze.

* KINGFISHER2 SEES FIRST LAND SINCE START as she sails within a few miles of the beautiful Marion Island...much enjoyed by Ellen and the crew..."birds, waves crashing on cliffs, it was just awesome...all the off watch guys came on deck to appreciate it. There are a couple of scientists living there apparently...I'd like to come back and visit them one day when we're not in so much of a rush!"

* GERONIMO PASSED CAPE HORN early evening yesterday setting a new record of 40d 16h 16m and 4 seconds, only 1 day 10 hours and 36 minutes ahead of Peyron's previous record. Significantly GERONIMO's lead of over 3 days at Cape Leeuwin has been chopped in half, as the weather forced them to sail a more northerly (and therefore longer course) across the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean... Ellen: "Many people said the record could be broken by days and days, and it's kind of reassuring to see that even Olivier is not ahead of Orange by miles and miles."

* "This Southern Ocean was neither enjoyable nor emotionally moving, and far from beautiful thanks to the fog and drizzle. There was none of the magic and grandeur that so often compensates for the extreme cold and isolation." commented de Kersauson. See http://www.grandsrecords.com

* ON KINGFISHER2 WATER TEMPERATURE DROPS TO 4 DEGREES, iceberg alert to highest state, lookouts on deck, radar on when the visibility drops...a collision at high speed with even the smallest block of ice could be terminal. The water temperature is the only real warning signal available...

* COMPLEX WEATHER SITUATION testing Ellen and weather router Meeno Schrader...."we spent nearly 2 hours discussing it last night, it's not clear how we should negotiate the next 12 hours to hook in to the next low pressure system. We are currently gybing downwind at about 20 knots, but far from the direct course...going to need to take the northerly gybe again soon, maybe in an hour," commented MacArthur at the 0500 call in. [Current heading 077 shows KINGFISHER2 has gybed heading north of East)

Kingfisher operating company of the day NOMI: NOMI is one of Poland's leading Home Improvement retailers. http://www.nomi.com.pl

Listen to Ellen's latest audio this morning...

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

"...Sailed passed Marion Island yesterday - really close, just 3 miles away. Fantastic conditions - sun, blue sky - clouds just covered the mountain tops and waves breaking along the cliffs... We currently going south but probably not for much longer, perhaps an hour. The breeze is back again which is great and we can probably gybe back on to a semi decent heading. The barometers still rising... Then we will be heading between Iles Crozet and Kerguelen Island - don't think we're go south of Kerguelen unless we have to gybe south again... We are pretty far south for this area but that's good - cutting back a few miles and without best conditions in the world. We had little option on the weather front so just going for it.

"Olivier de Kersauson rounded Cape Horn yesterday - for us, it's a relief he is out of the Southern Ocean on his way north - prety awesome he's made it through without any major problems. He'll be pretty happy now that he's off back to France. But at the same time, we know that the Atlantic can be pretty nasty place as well with no wind or head winds. I don't know what he'll have but if he has as little luck as we had on the way down - it won't be a lot of fun.

"Think we're pleased that overall Geronimo is only a day and a half ahead of Orange... Many people said the record could be broken by days and days, and it's kind of reassuring to see that even Olivier is not ahead of Orange by miles and miles. For us it's feasible to catch that up and the record's not being completely exploded."

LATEST EXCERPTS FROM CREW NEWS (see http://www.teamkingfisher.com for full news - click on crew icon to see today's news and all the news since the start...)

ANDREW PREECE: "A few mental calculations (see proviso below!) revealed that we were an estimated 18 days behind them therefore we need to be at The Horn in less than three weeks to be equal and our very rough reckoning puts us 7500 miles from The Horn which gives a daily average of around 420 miles needed to draw level (proviso: I must point out that these estimates were carried out on deck without the aid of a chart, a calculator, any accurate knowledge of the exact longitude of Cape Horn or the latitude that we will go round at and are unratified by the nav station!). We all want to get gone and get into the suffering and hoist the daily averages considerably. And Hendo and I want to see an iceberg... from a distance!"

JULES VERNE USHANT (START) TO CAPE HORN TIMES:
2003 Geronimo (de Kersauson) 40 days 16 hours 16 minutes 9 seconds 2002 Orange (Peyron) 42 days 2 hours 52 minutes 1997 Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 46 days 16 hours 57 minutes 1994 ENZA (Blake/Know-Johnston) 48 days 2 hours 32 minutes 1993 Commodore Explorer (Peyron) 53 days 6 hours 42 minutes

JULES VERNE USHANT (START) TO CAPE LEEUWIN TIMES:
2003 Geronimo (de Kersauson) 26 days 4 hours 53 minutes
2002 Orange (Peyron) 29 days 7 hours 22 minutes
1997 Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 30 days 16 hours 1 minutes
1994 ENZA (Blake/Knox-Johnston) 29 days 17 hours 53 minutes 1993 Commodore Explorer (Peyron) 33 days 7 hours 48 minutes

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO CAPE LEEUWIN TIMES:
2003 Geronimo (de Kersauson) 9 days 14 hours 17 minutes
2002 Orange (Peyron) 10 days 12 hours 42 minutes
Gate to gate record time still held by Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 1997 of 8 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes

OMEGA official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2'S Jules Verne record attempt

PARTNER OF THE DAY - NAUTIX: Nautix are the official supplier of wunderwater finishings to KINGFISHER2. http://www.teamkingfisher.com/nautix