Earthrace, the world’s fastest eco-boat, is now heading for San Diego from Manzanillo Mexico.
The 78 foot (24m) New Zealand built tri-hull wavepiercer, currently attempting to smash the world record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe, stopped for just three and a quarter hours in Manzanillo arriving at 21:45 GMT on Wednesday and leaving at 0100 GMT on Thursday morning, which was 6am local time.
At 12:35GMT today, 18 days since therir record attempt start in Sagunto Spain, New Zealand Skipper Pete Bethune and his crew were 900 nautical miles ahead of the pace set by the round-the-world record-holder, Cable & Wireless, in 1998.
When Earthrace arrived at the refuelling stop at Marina Puerto de la Navidad in the Isla Navidad Resort in the early hours of the morning, there were large crowds of local well wishers cheering their arrival.
Bethune’s crew includes a special guest member for each leg, and Guillermo Woodward Rojas, a freight shipping agent from Mexico joined the crew at Manzanillo.
During the stop over, the engineering support team discovered that a port fuel line filter was partially blocked which explained why the port engine had been down on power for the last hours of the 1,795 mile leg from Panama.
From the Mexican stopover onwards the engine was back 'on song' and the giant trimaran sped north west at an average of 22 knots.
In the 2007 Round the World attempt, strong northerlies made the run up the Baja Peninsular tough for the Earthrace crew and it looks like this part of the passage is set to be the same.
As Earthrace approached the Baja corner, the winds were picking up again as meteorologist Bob McDavitt predicted, and the crew is set for another 'Baja Bash'.
The latest report from Earthrace is below.
Sat Phone report from Earthrace - Click play button twice to listen
Click here for printer friendly version Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
If you want to send this story to a friend, please use link below
http://www.sail-world.com/BoatingAndBoats/Earthrace-heads-for-San-Diego/44445
Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our Sail-World news feed on their website. Look_here_to_see_examples
