MORE than a fortnight into the Jules Verne non-stop round-the-world record attempt and Ellen MacArthur and her team on Kingfisher 2 are chasing the opposition hard.

Geronimo is currently 77 hours ahead while the overall record set last year by Ellen's maxicat in its former guise of Orange is 31 hours ahead.

Frustrating highs had dogged Kingfisher 2's path for several days but, as Ellen herself admitted, a welcome front loomed.

"What a stark contrast from just hours ago. It's now a black night. We are crashing through the waves making typing virtually impossible. It was Neal's (McDonald) watch just before sunset. There was little wind, less than 15 knots, and the sea was as flat and quiet as it had ever been.

"It was approaching 2100 hours and the sun was beginning to set. There was a line of cloud in the distance which seemed to close on us very quickly.

"I called Meeno for our evening weather update and, incredibly, within that one phone call where I was describing the new clouds we were sailing in 25 knots of wind with a really lively sea.

"Incredible how things can change like that. As Guillermo left his watch to hand over to Neal he looked into the distance seeing the clouds approach.

" 'Welcome to the gates of hell,' he proclaimed and retired below to his bunk."

The contrast in conditions couldn't have been greater, one minute shorts and t-shirts, sunshine and gentle but frustrating progress.

"he next, water hosing across the deck, violent motion in to an opposing sea, oilskins on, storm clouds and a sense of foreboding as the Southern Ocean approaches, but at least the boatspeed has reached double figures."