Cheyenne 394 miles East of Florianopolis, Brazil

Speeding NE along the Brazilian coast West of the Low, another excellent run of 539 nm (avg 22.2 kts) has helped Steve FOSSETT and crew aboard Cheyenne to stretch their lead over the 2002 Round The World Sailing record pace to 1040 miles on the water.

More importantly, the relatively direct NE course plotted so far through the S Atlantic by Fossett and Navigator Adrienne Cahalan means that the 125′ Morrelli & Melvin designed catamaran is again over 4 days ahead of Orange’s 2002 track based on latitude comparison, although this will diminish somewhat as Cheyenne slowly bridges the trough of Low pressure looming to the East.

Watch Captain David Scully wrote last night on on the course:

“The last 48 hours have seen us take a significant bite out of the miles to the line, reaching up the Brasilian coast at well over 20 kts. We are working our way west around a pocket of low pressure. Tomorrow, speed will drop off as we slide through a trough extending north of the low, and then we hope to pick up the trades for the trip to the Equator.”

Skipper Steve FOSSETT wrote this morning on upcoming strategies:

“Today we have a difficult transition to cross a Low trough to the east. This will be very slow. So we will lose ground in the comparison to Orange for today. Then we will enter the Tradewinds tomorrow afternoon and have a good run to the Equator”.

Then the North Atlantic is forecast to be dominated by a large High Pressure system which extends far north. We will have to sail a lot of extra miles to get around and over the top of this High. It is likely to be the longest route that any of the previous record attempts have had to take.”

Cheyenne’s latest position is available on the Fossett Challenges website at the address below.