Cheyenne has set a new Ouessant – Leeuwin unofficial record. During yesterday’s fantastic blasting conditions. see news story here Steve Fossett and crew aboard the 125ft maxi-catamaran Cheyenne reached a boat speed of 36kts during yesterday’s 577nm run (avg 24.04 kts). This leaves Fossett’s team 1,474 miles ahead of the current RTW record track – set by Orange in 2002.

She crossed Cape Leeuwin (115 8E) 25 days 14 hrs 8 minutes after the start at Ouessant on 7 February – 3 days 17 hours ahead of the Ouessant – Leeuwin time set by Orange in 2002 (then a record for this passage) and 14 hours faster than the very fast time set by Geronimo in 2003.

Fraser Brown commented: “We have finally got the good full-on Southern Ocean conditions that you come here for. We have had the last two full days of incredibly blasting conditions riding on strong north-westerlies with squalls coming through increasing the wind from 35-40 knots. We have been sailing at a 100 to 110 wind angle with two reefs and storm jib and even reefed the storm jib at one stage. We have been sitting on the good numbers all day and night topping out at around 36 knots, this boat was built for these conditions – we haven’t yet stuffed the bow in which is enabling us to drive as hard as we can. Great conditions through the night – wet and fast driving with clear goggles on just seeing the white caps around you and the B and G displays. We have just broken the Ushant to Cape Leeuwin record beating Geronimo’s time. Nice to break something other than the boat. We are currently about 1,300 miles ahead of the record but not quite halfway so heaps can happen yet. We are in Aussie waters and heading straight east at 51 south soon to be under kiwi land, then next up the Horn. Bring it on. Sheet on and send it.”

Further down the round-the-world race track Olivier de Kersauson’s Geronimo is experiencing conditions at the other end of the scale as she continues her dash south on day seven of her Jules Verne record attempt. In the last 24-hours she averaged 13.9 knots, covering 329 nautical miles point-to-point, making this her worst day so far. According to news on the Geronimo website, the 110ft trimaran is a position 03°59’N, 28°56’W. This longitude position confirms that the least bad point for crossing the Equator lies further west than the average of those positions recorded for previous Jules Verne Trophy attempts.

Olivier de Kersauson and his crew are now having to deal with northerly winds from dead astern, which means more gybing and therefore considerably more distance to be covered. Naturally, this reduces their point-to-point speed.