Steve Fossett and crew have spent the last few days preparing Cheyenne, the125ft super-cat, for her forthcoming Jules Verne Challenge. The status for departure has, over the last 24 hours changed from Code Red – No start possible for the time period specified, to Code Yellow – Start is being considered for the period 14-18 January.

News however, from Team Cheyenne this morning shows a 14 January start is looking more and more likely. Fossett chatted about the weather prospect for the start: “It’s a long way off for a wind forecast, but right now the weather pattern looks like what we want. Our meteorologists at Commanders Weather note that a fairly strong area of High Pressure forms west of our start line on the 14th. This would produce strong north-north-west winds and also strengthen the Trade winds in the tropical latitudes. A start may be possible before the High Pressure moves too far east and chokes our route past Portugal with light winds.”

To break the Jules Verne record, Team Cheyenne has to beat Bruno Peyron’s (sailing Orange in 2002) time of 64 days, 8 hours,35 minutes, 24 seconds.