DAY 41 - Club Med Breaks 24 Hour Record at 655.2 miles with an average speed of 27.8 knots as she continues to raise the bar, hour after hour
News - Friday, 02/09/2001, 6:06 AM GMT

Position	02/09/2001 6:06 AM GMT
1st	Club Med (8010 nm from finish. Sets new 24 hour record, with vengeance, massive low ahead, avg speed 26.4 knots)
2nd	Innovation Explorer (889 nm from the leader. In rough conditions that is limiting her speed, avg speed 21.8 knots)
3rd	Team Adventure (4975 nm from leader. Sailing conservatively in high waves, avg speed 22.1 knots)
4th	Warta Polpharma (6007 nm from the leader. Back on a direct route, has no communications, avg speed 19.7 knots)
5th	Team Legato (6821 nm from the leader. Set personal 24 hour record, avg speed 21.2 knots)
6th	PlayStation DNF

Club Med has broken the 24 hour record that she had initially set, then had been broken by Innovation Explorer but this time broke it with vengeance, increasing the distance covered in 24 hours hour after hour for 7 hours until finally Club Med raised the bar to 655.2 miles with an average speed of 27.8 knots at 11:00 GMT.

Dalton: "It all started at about 0800 or 0900 GMT yesterday. It's been relatively easy, record breaking weather, the angle was right and the sea state reasonable. Now that we are more than half way round the world, we've consumed more than half of our food and fuel, so the boat is much, much lighter and just sails faster. We are beam reaching with flat water and a good wind strength, not too much, but enough. It's been tempting beforehand to have a go at the record but the boat has always been loaded up too much. And yes, we have toyed with the thought of records before in The Race, but often the wind and wave conditions either wouldn't allow it or would take us too far from the best course around the world."

Dalton: "Finally the ridge of high pressure that is extending way down into the Southern Ocean is moving forwards faster than us. So we can move fast and stay south and keep the pressure on". But Club Med is sailing into the center of a massive depression that is almost completely stationary, situated west of Cape Horn, and it looks like this will force Dalton's high pressure ridge north by the end of the week. That will leave Club Med facing a complex weather pattern to battle through to round Cape Horn.

"It is really cold. The sea temperature is just four degrees ... Last night we thought we should turn on the radar to start an iceberg watch. Straight away we saw one at a range of eight miles on the screen. At seven miles we could visually see it and minutes later it was beside us. It was probably the tallest iceberg I have ever seen, nearly 100 metres high and half a mile long. It was young, the issue of a violent birth, all jagged, not rounded and smooth from the sea smashing against it like you normally see."

Innovation Explorer is in rough conditions that is limiting her speed, jibing downwind to gain ground to the south, at a not very favourable angle and not very fast.

Jean-Philippe Saliyou: "We're trying to gradually wend our way southwards in the search for a good westerly flow of wind, located just after the ridge of high pressure but the sailing conditions of the last few hours haven't really enabled us to progress properly and we're being thrown about in a fairly strong seaway".

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

Team Adventure, the eloquent Cam Lewis: "Our speed is 27 knots and the wind speed is 35 knots, the seas are building as we sail south-east, with a big bright moon. Basically a gorgeous night. This is good downwind sailing at last". They are sailing conservatively due to rough seas, to conserve the boat. No doubt memories of the beam damage is in their minds. Lewis is expected to pass through Cook Strait on Sunday. She is approaching Tasmania.

The Race Office have reported that Warta-Polpharma have no communications, this might explain their rather erratic progress across the Southern Ocean, if that's cut off their supply of weather forecasts. Warta-Polpharma is accelerating, profiting from a breeze from the north-west. She has covered 474 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 20 knots.

Team Legato is jammed into a low pressure system in its north-west sector and making miles while the wind blows. Today Team Legato broke her personal 24 hour record: 507.2 miles in 24 hours with an average speed of 21.1 knots.

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

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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