Earthrace under pressure in World Record Race

by Scott Fratcher & Bob Maxwell on 28 May 2008 The 78 foot bio-fuelled Earthrace is now cutting across the vast empty area of the Pacific Ocean just north of the equator, again maintaining over 22 knots as she speeds from the Marshall Island toward Palau in Micronesia.

She limped most of the 2,200 miles from Hawaii on one engine, but has managed to hold her own against the 1998 world record, which belongs to the British Cable & Wireless Team, who power round the globe in seven minutes short of 75 days.

The two Cummins 540 Hp engines were serviced, the broken fuel line replaced and a full load of bio diesel was taken on boat in a frantically busy stop over in the Marshall Islands, which took from 0200 GMT to 0600 GMT.

Keen to take every speed gain he could find, Bethune spent some exhausting hours cleaning the bottom of the trimaran's three hulls during the four hour Majuro stop. He removed a thin algae film and some gatherings of worm barnacles.

At 12:35 GMT Earthrace had travelled 12,300 nautical miles from her April 27th starting point in Sag unto, Spain.

Although Earthrace is once more holding her speed, there was another major drama today. The high-pressure fuel line that Chief Engineer Tino de Ferias changed so simply just one day ago, burst again.

Luckily Tino left a spare fuel line onboard, and New Zealand skipper Pete Bethune and the Earthrace crew fitted it shortly after departure. It's possible this particular fuel line will need upgrading again during the race.

Repeating the same parts search conducted just a few days ago, the ground team engineer is hurrying to find another spare high-pressure fuel line in case it is needed.

Once located, the small connection line will have to arrive in Palau quickly as Bethune has not let off the throttles and, if anything, has sped up in his bid to 'smash' the round the world speedboat record.

The rest of the ground team is loading up to make the most circuitous flight leg of the race. The air route from the Marshall Islands to Palau may take the team on a 12 hour multi-island hop, stopping at almost every island dotting the inaccessible Pacific in this region.

For many the thought of a 30,000-psi fuel line bursting has no correlation to any pressures we commonly use in daily life.

For comparison the usual car tire pumps to 32 psi. A propane tank or portable fire extinguisher might hold 150 psi. The hydraulic motor on a classic farm tractor or fish boat winch, normally run at 1,500 psi.

SCUBA tank tops out at 3,200 psi and the highest pressure anyone might ever encounter is 10,000 psi and arrives in the form of a specially designed 'port-a-power' like the 'jaws of life' the fire department use to cut victims from car accidents. The pressure we are dealing with on Earthrace is three times higher than the highest pressures available in even the most extraordinary circumstances.

The ground team may find their largest challenge yet in shipping parts to the inaccessible fuel stop of Palau. If the team is delayed in Palau, they can enjoy some of the worlds best diving guided by Neco Marine or Sam's Tours while they wait.

Last year, while delayed for parts, the Earthrace team was thrilled with the world class water visibility, but chances are Pete Bethune will be roaring to continue on the second half of his record breaking circumnavigation.

Here is Pete Bethune's report (courtesy of Earthrace.net website) on the Marujo stop-over:

'There’s a real sense of relief as we idle, still only on one engine, into the amazing lagoon of Majuro and there’s a palpable drop in tension amongst crew. 'It’ll be so nice to leave here on two engines', Mark says enthusiastically, as he’s getting his life jacket ready. 'I just hope Groundcrew have sorted that replacement part for us.'

Tropical trees and coconut palms line the various atolls and islands spread around us, and crystal blue water reveals the astonishing corals some 30 metres beneath. Adam and Mark wander out and soak up the spectacle, while Rob busies himself getting footage.

It’s a good half hour later before we finally get tied off and clamber ashore. Fiona is beaming as she greets me. 'Here’s your part, she says proudly, handing over a small cardboard package. I quickly open it, and there is the replacement fuel line. 'Oh my precious', I say, in my best Gollum accent, holding the part to my cheek. It’s been a good effort by Groundcrew to get the part here before us.

'In fact we nearly had a continental flight drop it off to you en-route', Adrian informs us, 'but they couldn’t reach you on radio.'

I hand my precious over to Tino, who hurries up the gangplank to install it. Fiona heads off with the Customs and Immigration people, while Adrian and Adam start uncoiling hose to start refuelling. Mark meanwhile hobbles off to see yet another Doctor about his foot. I look over to the main wharf and there’s a long line of locals waiting patiently, hoping for a chance to wander through Earthrace.

It’s a few minutes later before I’m in the water with my dive mask, and working my way around the three hulls. My first task is to check for any damage, and there’s nothing really significant showing, but I also have to clean off any algae, and I can see sections all along the side where green is starting to show. It is amazing that algae can start growing at all, when you consider most of the time we are travelling at between twenty and twenty five knots.

There’re also a few little sections under the hull where little worm barnacles are showing. In the end I grab an old credit card and scrape them off.

Most boats permanently in the water use toxic anti-foul under the waterline to prevent marine life taking hold. Some are iso-cyanate based (cyanide that is!), and leach horrible chemicals into our precious waterways. Others use heavy metals that ablate off, but the end result is still more toxic crap in the water. The results show up in densely populated marinas where shellfish start mutating into all the same sex, and on resident fish species with questionable growths and deformities. The trouble is most boat owners know nothing of the type of anti foul they have on their vessels, let alone the impact it has on the environment. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

On Earthrace we run a special non-toxic, Teflon based product from PPG, and it is heaps better on the environment, while also giving us really good boat speed. The downside though is that some marine life will grow on it. As I’m now discovering, scraping off another section of algae. But if you can afford a three million dollar boat, you can probably also afford to pay someone to go down and clean it for you. Although in my case I can’t actually afford to pay someone, so I do it myself.

I look down below me and the lagoon floor is full of sea urchins and shellfish, while hundreds of colourful tropical fish amble in around me for a look. Although at times it’s not a bad job to have I think to myself.

In the end our stop in Majuro takes four hours, which is longer than I’d have liked, but then we’re back on two engines now, and I reckon it’s a fair trade. Palau, here we come.'

Day 30:
Last 24 hours: 329nm (running on one engine, plus port stop)
Total Distance covered: 12,300nm
Ahead of world record: 2100nm
Ave speed last 24 hours: 13.7kn (on one engine)
GPS Location: 07 08.084N, 169 14.790E
ETA Koror – Palau: Sunday early morning (1st June)

Below is the latest Earthrace sat phone report.