Since setting out from San Francisco on Saturday night (UT), Lionel Lemonchois and crew have been experiencing a diversity of weather, characteristic of this east to west crossing of the North Pacific. With 952 miles made good over the ground in the past 48 hours, the maxi-catamaran is maintaining an average pace of over 20 knots.

Now on a starboard tack, Gitana 13 is on a heading of 241 as she prepares to encounter her next system: there is good cloud cover dropping down from the NW with 30 knots of wind forecast. As a result, the wet atmosphere is still par for the course for the team for the next 24 hours.

At the 0730 ranking this morning, the Gitana 13 crew had a 371 mile lead over the current record holder – Olivier de Kersauson on board Geronimo. The conditions encountered by Kersauson in 2006 led him to pass a long way south of the great circle route however.

To follow their progress, visit www.gitana-team.com .