Vendée Globe

From Le Cam's 'old darling' to his daughter, Jourdain's shades of grey, Riou's foot getting better, here is a run down of what the French speaking skippers told the Sunday radio broadcast.

3^rd place Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement): The Forties are the Forties.  30-35 knots of wind and the seas you would expect.  Exactly as advertised.  Still grey weather- light or dark grey.  Some surfing waves (allowing him to speed along at 23 knots), but often falling off the waves. A couple of broaches during the night.  Close contact racing, but everyone has their own little problems to deal with, so very much alone.  Just had three one hour sleeps.  Thought he hadn't slept enough in South Atlantic, but has now rested and feels better.

8^th Vincent Riou (PRB):  Grey and cold, but all well.  30-34 knots of wind and around 20 knots of boat speed.  Normal bad weather for the southern seas.  Rough seas so boat slamming down off waves.  Hopes his foot will be back to normal in 2 or 3 days.  Series of lows, but not too violent and so allowing reasonable speeds.  Boats are very close, but visibility is poor and can only see a couple of miles.  Wonders if Michel Desjoyeaux will be able to keep up these speeds throughout the race.  Looks ahead to see what is in front of bow, but growlers cannot be seen anyway, so no point  in keeping watch.  At the moment doesn't believe he is in the danger zone in any case.  Difficulty is anticipating wind changes and finding right pace.  Air temperature 8, Sea temperature 5.5°

6^th Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux): Slight improvement.  Still grey, but light grey.  30-35 knots of wind.  Boat ("The old darling") coping well.  Pleased with his boat's performance.  Tells himself to be reasonable and not do anything stupid.  This is a joint effort with his boat, so talks to her.  Hopes there are no psychologists listening.  Pleased to hear his daughter's voice.

10^th Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air): 1.8 miles to the north of the Kerguelen Gate.  Confused seas and it is difficult to find the right compromise of sail and speed. Wind forecast to ease off. Water temperature down to 3.6°, so that is worrying. Hopes being in a group will mean that others will alert him of any danger. Strategy led him to this area of the course, as lighter winds in north.  Has radar on and this is a new experience for him, so stress rising.  Ridge of high pressure moving in.  Thinks he will gybe late today with NW'ly winds.

23^rd Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital): Very calm conditions.  His trip to Brazil really held him up.  5 or 6 very difficult days. Wanted to stop at Tristan da Cunha to repair his halyard, but not possible due to weather.  Doesn't want to climb mast in unsuitable conditions.  Trying to rest, before entering deep south.  Maximum of 1 reef in main to cross southern seas.  Resigned to the fact that he's in an old, boat that wasn't well prepared.  Doesn't see this as a danger, but from a sporting perspective, not very hopeful.  Drizzle and poor visibility, so watching his solar panels.

22^nd  Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Groupe Maisonneuve): Only 12 knots of wind, which feels good after gales.  An opportunity to tidy things up, rest, eat and dry out.  The noise at high speed was also very tiring. His Inmarsat antenna no longer working.   Had been on the port tack since Cape Finisterre, so now being on starboard tack means a big change.

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