| At sea. Asian Record Circuit: Ellen MacArthur and B&Q 160 miles from Ishigaki |
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| Monday, 17 April 2006 | |
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Team Ellen: After a slow night onboard, the conditions are now improving as the wind speed has picked up to around 12 knots, and B&Q are nearing the half way mark of this leg with approximately 288 miles remaining. Ellen and the crew will sail via Ishigaki Island, where B&Q must clear customs in Japanese waters before sailing the final 130-140 miles to Taipei, Taiwan. The benchmark time of 60hrs that the crew set themselves for this record, will require them to finish before 20:17 GMT on Tuesday night, Ellen is hoping that the light conditions for the start of this leg have not had a massive impact upon this target time. “If the wind holds at this speed then we should arrive tomorrow afternoon local time (late GMT), we are all crossing our fingers that this is the case and that the weather models have come up trumps!”. 17 Apr 2006 // 11:38: At present we are experiencing a techinical issue with the “live boat data”, as a result it is not updating automatically, we are working to fix this and we hope to have all systems back online asap. The latest data at 1030 GMT shows that the current weather models have held and B&Q continue to sail on a southerly heading towards the waypoint at Ishigaki Island. The 12-knot easterly breeze is maintaining 10-11 knots of boat speed as B&Q sail with full main and genoa. After navigating their way through the sea of boats last night, B&Q is sailing in clearer waters and they are beginning to make some progress towards the Japanese waters and Ishigaki Island where they must clear customs before sailing the remaining 130-140 miles onto Taipei. 17 Apr 2006 // 19:14: The latest data from onboard at 1800 GMT has B&Q maintaining a constant 12 knots of boat speed on a southerly heading as they make their way towards Ishigaki Island in Japanese waters. Currently 160 miles from Ishigakli and clearing customs before sailing the final 140 miles to Taipei, Ellen and the crew are sailing upwind in southeasterly 15-knot breeze with full main and solent. www.teamellen.com |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 17 April 2006 ) |
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