The New Zealand built 78-foot wave piercing trimaran Earthrace is currently in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the Caribbean at her second refuelling stop on her round-the-world record attempt, after a 24 hour delay.
When she thundered into San Juan with her two biodiesel fuelled 540 hp Mercruisers throbbing, Earthrace was 900 miles or two days ahead of the existing record of 74 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes set in 1998 by the British Cable & Wireless team.
Earthrace set out from Sagunto, north of Valencia in Spain, on April 27 and averaged 19 knots over the first week, travelling a total of 3300 nautical miles.
This journey was not without its moments. 24 hours short of the Azores, Earthrace lost her autopilot hydraulic pump and the crew had to hand steer, then her starboard fuel lift pump starved her of fuel and she slowed for the last hours of the leg.
After a fast two hour pit stop Earthrace set out on the long, 2315 nautical mile leg across the Atlantic.
Earthrace skipper Pete Bethune said the big seas had made the Atlantic trip rougher than he had hoped.
'Big waves come racing in and crash-tackle us,' he said. 'Earthrace shudders and rocks as the ... cabin goes dark as we submarine through each wave, then lights up as we emerge out the other side.'
It was an eventful crossing. Six metre waves pounded the boat for a tough eight hours before the trade winds kicked in giving the spaceship on the water a fast run into the Caribbean.
But it was not all sweetness…the boat's head had blocked and the crew's sleeping quarters have been flooded with 50 litres of bio diesel, which leaked from an inspection hatch on the main fuel tank.
The carbon fibre hatch lid was temporarily repaired with a hydraulic jack braced against a bunk to hold it closed.
Frustration for the hard charging Earthrace team; when they arrived in San Juan they found the Spanish supplied bio-diesel was not dockside. A logistical nightmare for the Earthrace ground crew as they battled to get the precious fuel to the boat. However the delay (if 24 hours) provided time for a myriad of boat repairs and maintenance fixes and two sea trials.
At last report refuelling was underway. She is about to leave the Puerto Rican capital heading 1003 miles to Shelter Bay, Colon in Panama, and the start of her 37 mile journey through the canal. Because of high seasonal demand there are ccurrently long delays for boats transitting the canal.
Bethune is hoping his ground crew can pursuade the workers to allow the World Record chaser to be processed rapidly.
The full record route is as follows:
Sagunto (Spain) – Horta (Azores) – San Juan (Puerto Rico) – Colon (Panama Canal, Panama), – Manzanillo (Mexico) – San Diego (USA) – Maalaea Harbor, Maui (Hawaii) – Majuro (Marshall Islands) – Koror (Palau) – Singapore – Kochi/Cochin (India) – Salalah (Oman) – Port Said (Suez Canal, Egypt) – Sagunto (Spain)
Sat Phone report from Earthrace - Click play button twice to listen
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