Steve Fossett and crew of Cheyenne are closing in on the finish of their Round The World record attempt. Breaking the sixty-day mark looks like a distinct possibility.

Over the past 54 days, the inventory of sails that Halsey Lidgard Sailmakers produced has provided CHEYENNE with the boat speed and reliability to take as many as five days off the existing record of 64 days, 8 hours and 24 minutes.

To get an idea of what they have encountered along the way, following are two emails sent from Paul "Whirly" van Dyke, of Halsey Lidgard Mystic, from on-board Cheyenne.

E-mail from Whirly, March 11, 2004:

Hello Andy and everyone else at the loft:
We are making good miles, but they are hard miles. We are at 53.28 South and 142.22 West. The sails have been doing well; it is the stuff around them that breaks. Since the headstay broke and taking with it- the furler (the foils section is in three pieces tied to the tramp), the Solent has been on hanks. I took the leech battens out and it is setting up well. Of course, it takes a bit of effort to grind it up. Another problem is we have to use the same halyard for the spinnaker and the Solent and that its halyard fell down the mast when the head strop broke on the spin. So until we can mouse the halyard back in, we have to hoist the Solent on the gennaker halyard. Can you say shit fight? Fortunately, the right sail combo at the moment is Blast reacher, staysail, and one reef in the main. This should be good until Saturday when it gets too windy again. The Spin held up well when the halyard broke, flying all over the place, dragging in the water, and sending people everywhere. But no tears. We took about 8 attempts to corral it. Got about half of it in the boat and then flying over the side.

Our weather forecast between here and the Horn is improving and we should be getting in around late Monday.

Good to hear from you-
Whirly

E-mail from Whirly, March 23, 2004:

Hello everybody:
We are still going and ahead of the record. It has been a rough 10 days between the breakages, weather (light winds,) and everything else, we saw the 2200 mile lead shrink down to about 650 at one point. This is about the only racecourse where a 2200-mile lead is not a sure thing. Back up to speed now and the lead is about 800 miles.

The sails are doing well. Not too much to say about them and that is a good thing. Unlike some other things aboard, they are staying together and keeping us in the hunt. The main has been relentlessly abused, but it is handling it well. The 1.5 batten pocket has a one-foot tear in it right above the luff receptacle. Happened when it tore off the track. It is on the pocket, not the sail and has not moved for 10 days so we will not drop the sail to fix it. We got the top lock fixed and been full hoist for a while. Looks like we'll stay full hoist all the way to the equator. Interestingly enough, we haven't used the third reef and probably won't. It would have been nice to leave it off during construction. The boat is unbelievably powerful (far more than the Ollier Cats) and all the extra effort we put into the sails was worth it!

Solent is also taking a beating dragging up and down on the halyard; it is getting a few abrasion spots. Also the Cuben has turned white from flogging and bashing into everything on the hoists and drops. But still sets up well and we can now adjust the halyard tension (try and round up the entry a little - ha, ha). The sea state is much better here in the Atlantic and that will help a lot to save the gear.

Possibly to the equator on - bonus. Once we cross that 0 degree line, it will be hard not to think about Heathrow or Gatwick.
Almost time to get the Fisher's Island Fleet ready again.

Down the home stretch.
Whirly

Whirly was responsible for overseeing the construction of the new mainsail, three headsails and spinnaker produced in Mystic for CHEYENNE for this record-attempt. Halsey Lidgard Auckland produced the balance of the sail inventory three years ago.

All the working sails are Cuben Fiber specified by Halsey Lidgard Mystic for this project using our in-house design system and Relax2-our sail simulation software. The spinnaker is a 2.1 polyester from Contender Sailcloth.

John Fries, Mystic's lead sail designer, worked closely with Whirly on the specifications, details and molds in order to produce this large inventory of premiere sails. The entire Mystic group deserves high praise for the end result - the fastest sails around the world.

CHEYENNE is due to finish the record attempt late Monday, April 5 or early Tuesday, April 6. For more information on the Round the World Challenge visit www.fossettchallenge.com

Close Window