Leader Michel Desjoyeaux, now 36.5 miles ahead of Roland Jourdain, remains typically sanguine; amost aloof. His reports vary between the brutally straight-forward, making it sound easy, or rich with hidden meanings, rhetorical questions and clever up-ended metaphors. But the reality he reported this morning is that he has not seen more than 42 knots of wind. Last night the race leader remarked:

“ The Indian didn't dig up the hatchet, but feathers have been ruffled.  I haven't seen more than 42 knots down here over the last 15 days, served up with a few bits of ice for the drinks.  I can remember tougher conditions in this region. Two masts, one keel and some rudders and some other unmentionable damage, but what else (and I'm not excluding myself)? So the question today is will the Pacific pacify us (with fewer punishments, some good behaviour and serenity?”

His more northerly course has almost certainly provided Foncia with relatively smoother conditions, and slightly lighter and more settled conditions. Again, of the breakaway four, he is quickest this evening making 2.4 knots faster between second placed Roland Jourdain. Clearly there has been an advantage in these conditions to have done miles on a trusted boat, for this evening two of the top three boats are near identical 2004 Lombard designs, third placed Le Cam’s has already done the 2004 race finishing second to Vincent Riou.

Further back, the solo sailors are having to deal with another nasty low-pressure area. Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) admitted today that he was sailing with three reefs in the mainsail, while Sam Davies confirmed she had never seen seas like it before. As for Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar), he had recorded  gusts in excess of 55 knots, and is continually on stand by due to intermittent problems with his auto-pilots.

Jonny Malbon (Artemis II) has watermaker problems again, but sounds immeasurably more confident having been through storms up to 60 knots of wind:

“I was just left hanging on and watching the wind speeds at the nav station.” Malbon said.

All of the sailors are facing heavy cross seas, creating uncomfortable sailing conditions. With howling winds and whistling keels in the background, the tired, frail voices on today's radio session were clearly not in the mood for light-hearted conversation.  While at the front of the fleet, the war of nerves continues, others appear to have adopted a less ambitious strategy, at least on the surface.  Davies said today that she and Thompson have discussed their shared desire to simply finish.

For some this is down to the damage they have suffered, while for others it is quite simply the realisation that their boats could not satisfy their ambitions. Some were merely pleased to see they were still in the race and if we look at the number of competitors that have been forced to retire in the past week, we can reflect their satisfaction.

Sam Davies, GBR, (ROXY): “There were huge waves when I went over a little ridge earlier on, just mountainous and the surfs were pretty huge and with some of them I was never quite sure how they were going to finish. The sea is still big but it seems to have calmed down a little bit. I am expecting worse once this front passes, and then the sea will be across the wind and it will be quite unpleasant.

I was on a mission to overtake Brian and while I did that I became a little addicted to boatspeed. And I have been on a big mission to go as fast as possible, and I was comparing my boat speed with Seb Josse and Mich Desj, and trying to keep up with them and then I took a few miles off Brian. And so looking back I am not so sure it was such a great idea to send it when it is really, really windy.  I am not here to win I am here to finish. We talked to each other this morning, because we both want to finish this race and we both are trying to be quite careful and get through this cold front without damage.”

Jonny Malbon, GBR, (Artemis II): “The second big depression came through and after the first one had come through with a lot more wind than the GRIB (weather) files I got pretty well prepared for it. And so a couple of hours before it hit I had pretty much got everything set up with the reefs in and the storm jib set up and ready to go. And it did not fail to deliver within about an hour and a half it was 40, then 50 and then gusting 60. It was certainly over 50 and 55 for about 12 hours. And it was pretty windy, but the sea state was just much, much worse than the first one.

I have a lot of confidence in the boat now. It has done me proud. At one point we hit 30 knots and I was locked in downstairs. The boat was underwater up to windows on the coachroof. She has done us proud. I did a bit of maintenance yesterday when the wind was down a bit. I put in a new mainsheet and tightened up the battencars and generally gave her a bit of love.”

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar):  “We had 43 knots earlier today and now we have about a mere 33 knots which feels quite light. When the next bit of the cold front comes through we will get 50 to 55 knots.

It did it once yesterday when it put us into a pirouette but then last night it worked faultlessly when we were in quite heavy conditions, so it is some intermittent thing. There is probably some loose connection in the wiring.

I am pretty ready to go through the hatch at all times, because the consequences are not like another boat. Because of all you ballast, the water ballast, the keel and all your equipment is on the wrong side of the boat, then the last time it happened the mast was literally parallel to the water and you could literally have walked up the mast. We would have just stayed there until with the hydraulic keel you can ease the boat back upright and ease the sails.”