MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS, A SURFERS' DREAM...AND AHEAD OF THE RECORD

Its Sunday, DIY day! http://www.diy.com

SUMMARY : 0700 GMT 23.2.03 (position taken at 06:48 GMT)
Position: 50 49'S 64 53'E (approx. location 185 miles SE of Kerguelen
Islands)

Ahead/Behind the record: 17 hours 19 minutes Ahead of Orange (next waypoint on longitude of Cape Leeuwin 52 00'S 115 07'E) Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 59 hours behind Geronimo DAY 24 : 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher 488 nm, Orange 418 nm, Geronimo 423 nm End DAY 24 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 15392 nm, 15669 Orange nm, Geronimo 14448 nm OMEGA OFFICIAL TIMEKEEPER OF KINGFISHER2

Boat speed: 23 knots
Course: 125
Wind 40 to 45 knots with more in the gusts
Check out the surfline weather chart (courtesy of www.surfline.com) at http://www.teamkingfisher in the main story

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IN BRIEF:

* ABOUT 10,000 MILES SAILED AND LESS THAN 2000 TO CAPE LEEUWIN

* A BEAUTIFUL SOUTHERN OCEAN DAY...40 to 45 knots of wind, cold and crisp blue sky, white water everywhere, and big long waves..."we're surfing down these long waves...in the troughs you can see nothing, its like a valley, on the peaks you feel like you can see or miles." commented Ellen. Click here for the full audio

* TODAY'S PAYMENT TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN GODS...a couple of hours at slightly slower speed after a small amount of mainsail damage as the crew dropped the storm spinnaker in 50 knots of wind...the halyard caused a small rip in the main. Hendo and Ronny sent up to make the repair in situ, knife, glue, sticky sail cloth...2 hours later back at 100%...another DIY day in the Southern Ocean!

* HEADING FOR SHALLOWER WATER...as KINGFISHER2 passes across the plateau (300 metres deep...expect more violent seas) between Kerguelen and Heard Islands...check out the Kerguelen Archipelago... http://www.btinternet.com/~sa_sa/kerguelen/kerguelen_islands.html

* IN THE BIG WINDS OF THE SOUTH...here is Meeno's forecast for today and tomorrow as the fast moving low pressure system passes (hopefully) under KINGFISHER2...[TWD=True Wind Direction]

23/02
00-06UT: TWD 290 40 kts, gusts 50-60 kts SEA: 5m DIR W
06-12UT: TWD 290 40-42 kts, gusts 55-60 kts risk of even 65kts SEA: 6->7m DIR W
12-18UT: TWD 290 42-45 kts, gusts 60-65 kts SEA: 7m from the W
18-00UT: TWD 280->270 45-40 kts, gusts 60-65 kts , very gusty! SEA: 7m along 51/52S: 8m

24/02 : 00-12UT: TWD 270-260 40->35 kts, gusts 55 kts ,very gusty! SEA: 7-6m DIR W

* GERONIMO SLIDES SLOWLY PAST THE FALKLANDS just over a day ahead of Orange's record, desperately looking for a way through the South Atlantic....

ANDREW EMAIL LOG YESTERDAY PM
Communications by BT
http://kingfisher.sportal.com

ON THE WEATHER...
We've just emerged from 24 very strange Southern Ocean hours, set the storm chute in 35 knots of true breeze and we're off at 25 knots plus in the direction we need to be going. Overnight we had been on the breeze with a staysail and later a storm jib as we plugged upwind into an awkward sea with the boat slowed down to stop it shaking itself to pieces. While we waited for an advancing low from the west, we were anxious not to slip any further south in case the low passed over us and battered us with up to 60 knot headwinds. You can imagine our relief when the wind began to free this morning before building to the mid 30s and were able to start making some miles; this part of the Indian Ocean, in the vicinity of the Kerguelen Islands, is notorious for its confused sea state that impedes our progress and limits our ablity to put our foot to the floor and notch up the miles that the wind speed and angle would now otherwise allow us to do.

ON THE TEMPERATURE...
The water temperature has been down at four degrees and until the wind freed this morning and warmed up, life on deck was bitterly cold and below it took me three hours inside a fleece bag, a sleeping bag and a Gortex liner, dressed in full thermals, to get warm during last night. But maybe I'm just soft!

ON SLEEP TECHNIQUES...
I've been studying the bed time habits of the guests in the Hilton hull Over the last week or so in order to try and improve my own technique and hence quality of life. I've observed a few interesting manouvres and techniques. Guillermo, Jason and Hendo seem to just climb into a sleeping bag - ususally almost before the previous occupant has vacated....

ON...???
I caught Bruno with a tube of vaseline in his hand perched on the edge of his bunk yesterday evening (we had been wondering what the three tubes of vaseline were for in the heads). I was looking around for a victim until he told me he was planning to...

See http://www.teamkingfisher.com for the full story...

PERFORMANCE PARTNER OF THE DAY : RED FUNNEL are official travel partner to Team Kingfisher. Red Funnel provide a Hi-Speed and car ferry service from Cowes, Isle of Wight to Southampton facilitating the travel requirements of the Offshore Challenges sailing team based in Cowes. http://www.teamkingfisher.com/redfunnel

JULES VERNE INTERMEDIATE TIMES
OMEGA is the official timekeeper of KINGFISHER2 http://www.teamkingfisher.com/omega

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 Jules Verne record time still held by Sport Elec (de Kersauson) 1997 of 8 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes [a faster time was recorded by Loick Peyron in The Race]

KINGFISHER PLC : TITLE SPONSOR TO ELLEN MACARTHUR
Kingfisher plc is one of Europe's leading retailers operating in the international home improvement and electrical and furniture markets. Kingfisher employs around 90,000 people in over 1,397 stores across 16 countries and includes some of the best known retail brands in Europe: B&Q and Comet in the UK and Castorama, Darty and BUT in France. http://www.kingfisher.com