KEY POINTS:
The Earthrace trimaran was last night docked at Malaga on Spain's east coast, refuelling for a run through the Straits of Gibraltar to the Canary Islands.
A spokeswoman for the Earthrace project said the vessel ran into several storms on the 3333km voyage across the Mediterranean Sea from Port Said, in Egypt.
These storms slowed Earthrace's speed from 40km/h to 18.5km/h as it battled 5m head seas and 92km/h wind gusts.
The slowed passage took some of the gloss off its high-speed transit of the Suez Canal on May 26.
After the intervention of the New Zealand Embassy in Cairo, Earthrace was allowed to travel through the canal at top speed.
Canal authorities then presented the boat crew with commemorative silver medals.
Earthrace captain Pete Bethune said it was a thrilling experience: "This would have to be my own personal highlight of the race so far."
Earthrace can travel up to 90km/h and the fast run meant that at Port Suez, after 28,150km of its 44,911km route around the world, the crew were within 888km of the pace they need to set to beat the world record of 75 days.
But the stormy Mediterranean passage nearly doubled the deficit to 1592km at Malaga.
Earthrace is timing its record attempt from April 7 at San Diego, California and must be back there by June 21 to beat the 1998 record set by British boat Cable & Wireless.
From Malaga, Earthrace goes to Tenerife in the Canary Islands to refuel.
It will then set out on the trip's longest leg, 5000km across the Atlantic to Barbados.
- NZPA
