DAY 35 - Innovation Explorer breaks the 24 hour record and Grant Dalton Clears the Cook Straits
News - Saturday, 02/03/2001, 4:43 AM GMT

Position	02/03/2001 4:43 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (11152 nm from finish. Big welcome for local hero in Cook Strait, 16.5 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (473 nm from the leader. Closed by 321.5 miles, set new 24-hour world record of 629.19 nm, avg speed 24.9 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (4177 nm from leader. Pushing hard in good winds, avg speed 16.0 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (4871 nm from the leader. At risk of slowdown from unavoidable high pressure, avg speed 10.6 knots)
5th	Team Legato (6217 nm from the leader. Excellent progress, avg speed 15.9 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

At 0400 GMT Friday morning, Club Med passed through the Cook Straits between the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

She has now left the relatively consistent low pressure systems of the Southern Ocean and is now in the more unpredictable Tasman Sea.

Dalton: "The passage was not an easy one, the wind went light then turned into a headwind when we got to the narrow part of the Strait and then increased to make it hard for spectator boats to come too near. We've had to tack about fifteen times and we worked the South Island side to start with and now we're at the bottom of the North Island going across Pallser Bay. with friends and family waving at us, helicopters etc".

A big spectator fleet followed the big blue maxi-cat as best they could in the choppy seas. Greetings from welcoming New Zealenders included one of traditional Maori style - a haka off the back of an aluminium fishing boat. Amongst the big spectator fleet was Grant's family, wife Nicky and kids Eli and Mac.

Nicky Dalton (Grant Dalton's wife): "It was an amazing day, I was open-minded this morning not having any expectations of how much we would see of the boat, but in the end we met up with the cat and spent most of the afternoon alongside".

Dalton's wife Nicki and his children Eli and Mac, were able to draw up alongside the giant blue maxi-cat in a small spectator craft. Nicki later said: "Normally when we see Grant racing like this, it means he has just started a leg or we would see him in port in a few hours time, but this was obviously different. The children shouted at their dad and he shouted back at them. It was great."

Innovation Explorer has shattered the world 24 hour distance run record with a mileage of 629.19 and an average speed of 26.2 knots, set from 11:00 GMT to 11:00 GMT. This is her second record Innovation has taken from The Race leaders. Only three days ago, the crew claimed the Cape-to-Cape record.

They have beaten by four miles the previous record holder, Club Med, which covered 625.7nm in June 2000 under the stewardship of Grant Dalton and Loick’s brother, Bruno - the man behind the race - during their east to west transatlantic record.

Innovation Explorer will have better conditions that Club Med had for the passage between the islands of New Zealand as a high pressure is forecast to decline and recede north-west.

The next stage of The Race for the leaders is the New Zealand to Cape Horn passage.

Team Adventure is averaging 19.1 knots in nearly 30 knots of southwest wind. Cam Lewis has also taken 282 miles out of the leader in the past 24 hours

Warta Polpharma is at risk of being slowed down by a high, it looks like there is no way around this blocking high pressure.

Team Legato is in ideal conditions and stands to gain more ground on Warta Polpharma if she becomes imprisoned by the high.

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

Innovation Explorer is in turqoise Club Med in yellow Team Adventure is green

PlayStation is in red Warta is orange Team Legato is blue

From the NOW live tracker, www.now.com

Innovation Explorer is in turqoise Club Med in yellow Team Adventure is green

PlayStation is in red Warta is orange Team Legato is blue

Map images courtesy of Virtual Spectator, click here to go to The Race site for a free download of the software.

Club Med in blue Innovation Explorer is in green Warta Polpharma is yellow

Team Adventure is in orange Team Legato is in brick-red PlayStation is in orange-red

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