Geronimo under 700 miles to the finish in Honolulu Hawaii
by Sam Crichton 17 Nov 2005 10:14 GMT
News recently received from onboard Geronimo is that the boat has tacked and now heading in a southerly direction towards the finish off Diamond Head in Honolulu Hawaii. The breeze is from the 40 to 45 degrees direction which has slowed the boat down a little as they had hoped it would be in the 80 to 90 degrees direction to maintain the 20 + knots boat speed. Even with this over the last five hours the boat has averaged 19.73 knots.
‘Nice moon tonight on an angry sea, some gusts not too severe, here the cold air coming from the north gets through the warm molecules of the tropics. The angle of the wind shifts is about 35 degrees. This gives an impression of unpredictable, impossible to say what the wind will be within one hour. In the heavens, the clouds run towards the west, masking the moon at times. Then the enlighted night comes back to the unbelievable, nearly brutal after the eclipse. The men on watch share their enthusiasm with loud voices, the fluid race of Geronimo in a silver world. Cam Lewis is a magnificent virtuoso at the helm, relaunching the boat speed relentlessly. Elegance and accuracy of his gestures, anticipation of the waves and extraordinary glide in this world of moving bumps. I sit down the cockpit with Didier Ragot, we forget the strategy and the stress, overwhelmed by the happiness of sailing and we just keep on joking under the moon, souvenirs and laughs, everything is getting confused. Tonight the sea is ours,’ commented Olivier de Kersauson skipper of Geronimo.
With an estimated 696.22 miles to the finish line Geronimo’s ground team estimate her arrival into Honolulu at approximately 4am local time (US Hawaii) Friday November 18 - 1400 UTC November 18
Recent GPS for Geronimo is LAT: 26° 25.84N LON: 148°23.36W 0729 UTC Time: 17 November 2005
Tracking of the progress of this attempt for the Los Angeles Honolulu Challenge record by Geronimo can been seen at www.superyachting.com