Earthrace stretches ahead of World Record

'Earthrace heads for Palau' TracPlus

The Round the World record was set in 1998 by the British Cable & Wireless team at 74 days 23 hours and 53 minutes. Now over half way round the world Earthrace is curently 2,449 miles ahead of that pace and could clip ten days off the record. With an easy half metre following swell, the 78 foot bio-fuelled trimaran Earthrace is powering across the Pacific heading for Palau in Micronesia.

After a four hour stopover in Majuro in the Marshall Islands (800 miles from Palau), during which a burst high pressure fuel line was replaced, Earthrace set out on the leg to Palau. That fuel line burst again, but this time the Earthrace crew had a spare and so were able to quickly solve that problem and get back on the pace.

Over the last two days her speeds have increased as her fuel load reduces; she has travelled 488 and 534 nautical miles over those days and is now 13,222 miles from her April 27th starting point, Sagunto north of Valencia in Spain.

However there are serious challenges ahead for the New Zealand skipper and his Earthrace team. Because of delays in shipping their bio-diesel out of Spain, caused by EU customs, Earthrace is sailing into the Monsoon season.

Already savage weather has smashed through Burma and Bangladesh, with large amounts of debris in the water.

Routing meterologist Bob McDavitt is already frowning about the weather ahead of Earthrace and she may be forced to divert around tropical cyclones in the coming days.

Below you can here the latest report from Earthrace skipper Pete Bethune.

Voice Mail from Earthrace - Click play button twice to listen