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Kingfisher2's time to longitude of Cape of Good Hope is about 7 hours longer than Orange's, KINGFISHER2 is 100 miles further south, therefore closer to the direct route.

Kingfisher2 sailed a blindingly fast day yesterday - the boats fifth 500+ mile 24-hour run in a row - broad reaching in 35 to 40 knots of wind, all day she managed to stay ahead of the front that was spinning off of the chasing low pressure system - at times averaging 26 knots over the ground...

ELLEN PHONECALL 0500GMT

"Pretty tired. trying to decide what to do with the weather. There is a ridge to the right and we're sailing into a high pressure area with the low below us but pretty inactive. Sailing as high as we can until we decide when to gybe - all routing saying to stay a bit higher then gybe under ridge to get south. Bit frustrating that we had to sail round top of low yesterday but it was the best thing to do with the forecasted sea state - it was a big detour but the safer thing to do."

LATEST EXCERPTS FROM CREW NEWS

ANDREW PREECE: The waves are so impressive you get a thrill from surfing them all day until the wind shifts by a few degrees and the wind/wave alignment goes out of whack which kills the fun and the speed instantaneously as the boat suddenly, from being an elegant, surfing, sliding beast, becomes a recalcitrant pig that needs to be wrestled at the wheel and slams uncomfortably into the oceanic confusion. That's when sleeping is impossible, when pouring drinks is impossible and when working in the media station or the nav station becomes difficult and precarious as you never quite know when the next one will strike...

KEVIN MCMEEL: I have not often seen seas like this. They are majestic mountains of water which gradually overtake us as they roll unimpeded by any land mass in their journey eastward. The sun glints through the tops of them highlighting the green in the blue just before they turn a foamy white. They almost look delicate at that moment like the spun glass you might see in a craft store. They occasionally come aboard to remind me what it is like to be hit with a sheet of plywood and dragged to the end of your tether unless some solid object intervenes. They wipe away our tracks moments after we have passed...

SUMMARY: 0700 GMT 18.2.03
Position: 41 55'S 17 33'E

Ahead/Behind the record: 1 hours 35 minutes behind Orange (using WP6)
Ahead/Behind Geronimo: 53 hours 24 minutes behind Geronimo (using WP6)
DAY 19 24 hour run (point to point) : Kingfisher2 517 nm, Orange 487 nm, Geronimo 344 nm
End DAY 19 distance to go (on theoretical course) : KF2 17570 nm, Orange 17595 nm, Geronimo 16716 nm

Boat speed: 23.5 knots
Distance to WP6 46 00'S / 70 00'E 200 miles north of Kerguelen Islands : 2239 nm (theorectical shortest distance)