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East - West Atlantic record

Paul Larsen : "Will we or won’t we ?"

150 miles to finish, Maiden is 10 nm behind Club Med

dimanche 21 avril 2002 –


"Just when it looks like it’s obvious that we won’t the wind becomes favourable and it appears we will. Then there’s the flipside to this. Last night all three watches had the opportunity to blast Maiden II along straight for the finish line hitting speeds around thirty knots in the squalls. We have the maximum sail area up and all on board now feel quite handy at dealing with this configuration. The wind instruments went down during the starless night but a makeshift ’wind wand’ was quickly erected on the aft transom. During our headlong dash we managed to scrape ahead of the record pace set by this very boat two years previously and all was looking good with only 350 miles left to cover in 20 hours. The last watch, however, suffered from a very shifty dying breeze which necessitated a gybe with less than 300 miles to go. It’s so frustrating. This record attempt has been borderline for a long time and never felt like a certainty. We have given the course a not too romantic name due to the constant direction of the wind relative to the boat. The trouble is with these mighty boats that you can never give up due to the speeds they are capable of. A change of breeze that may seem slight to most boats can see these behemoths go from a mild trot to a mile eating gallop. So we push on.

Either way the record will come down to a matter of hours maybe minutes. Pretty good considering that when I joined the project 25 days ago the boat was sitting on cradles in the La Ciotat boatyard in the south of France with the mast laying alongside ! Now, sitting here tapping this out, we are 270
odd miles from the finish of a Trans-Atlantic record attempt the success of which will be decided not by skill or lack of preperation but by the fickle nature of the weather. We’ve given it our best shot, worked together extremely well and gained invaluble experience sailing this wonderful boat.

Adrienne just confirmed that we are a mere 10 miles behind ’Club Med’ at this stage. We desperately need a strong finish. You just can’t resign yourself to defeat with so many optimists on board despite what the latest weather charts show. So onwards we march and besides...... once across the line we turn tale and head for Antigua Race week 800 miles away so it can’t be that bad. Stay tuned."

Navigator’s update

– Distance to finish : 276nm
– Distance since start : 3612nm
– Yacht log (actual miles sailed) : 4771nm
– Average speed needed to break record : 18.4kts
– Average speed since start : 15.05kts
– Hours to finish : 15hrs approx
– Hours since start : 240hrs
– Average daily miles : 361.2
– Club Med position : 25 00N 69 50W
– Maiden Two position : 24 09N 69 41W
– Miles behind Club Med : 10nm
– Current speed : 15kts
– Current heading : 226T
– Wind : E at 12kts
– Forecast : Wind east 10-15kts with a possible shift to the NE, wind decreasing overall.
– This is the final leg to the finish and with a 15 hour deadline it is looking to be a difficult task to break the record.

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