KEY POINTS:
The Auckland-based Earthrace trimaran was last night approaching Puerto Rico in the Caribbean for the second refuelling stop on its bid for a round-the-world record.
By noon yesterday, a week into the journey, it had travelled a total of 6651km and was heading at 43km/h for San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, about 500km away.
Since departing the Azores archipelago in the eastern Atlantic last week, the boat's $10,000 flush toilet has stopped working and the crew's sleeping quarters have been flooded with 5cm of biodiesel, escaping from an inspection hatch on the main fuel tank.
The hatch has been "repaired" with a jack braced against a bunk to hold the fuel inside.
Earthrace skipper Pete Bethune said 6m waves on the trip across the Atlantic had made the trip rougher than he had hoped.
"Big waves come racing in and crash-tackle us," he said. "Earthrace shudders and rocks as the ... cabin goes dark as we submarine through each wave. Controlling Earthrace in head seas is like trying to control an angry bull."
After refuelling at San Juan, the boat will head 1857km to Shelter Bay in Panama, the start of its 80km journey through the canal.
The boat set out from Sagunto, Spain, on April 27, and has averaged 37km/h. A problem with a fuel pump slowed it on the first leg to the Azores.
Earthrace is now 1574km ahead of the time set in 1998 by the United Kingdom boat Cable & Wireless Adventurer, when it set the existing record of 74 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes.
- NZPA
