Vendée Globe

When one speeds up, they all speed up… Desjoyeaux continues to play cat and mouse with his hunters, Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environment), Sébastien Josse (BT) and Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux), now 75.5 miles ahead.

The leading four are speeding up and slowing down in sync - Mich Desj sent us this picture of his speedo to show just how fast - 32.27 knots! Elsewhere in the fleet, the skippers are preparing for a series of low pressure systems set to sweep the fleet — all except Marc Guillemot (Safran) and Sam Davies (Roxy) can expect strong winds. Update from the French skippers in this morning’s radio broadcast:

-1st Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia): Wind around 30-32 knots, but squall a while ago of around 40 knots. Think I'll go and get some rest soon. Has been monitoring what others doing to regulate his speed. It's not up to me to ease off first. If others think we're going too quickly, they can ease off. I don't see a race in that way. I'm just going a little bit faster than Bilou. Before I was going two knots or more faster. The pilot is just a stupid machine. It's up to the skipper to decide how fast to go. Some strong north-westerly winds forecast for a few days, but around the New Zealand Gate looks complicated. Only doing 12-14 knots at the moment. Can't see if there are any marine mammals, as the seas are too rough, but pleased not to have to worry about whales.
-2nd Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement): Not pleasant. Downwind, but 20-35 knot winds mean you never know how much sail to have up. Seas are still nasty and boat-breaking. Air temp and sea temp 7°. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Michel's speed or the others behind? Clearly Mich is easing off to be just that bit quicker than us. Not worried about personal hygiene. Brushes his teeth rather than washing all over. Don't need to worry about smell as in cold weather he doesn't smell. Beard grows more slowly too. Has seen many more albatrosses than usual. Saw a lot of krill everywhere around the deck. Hope it doesn't attract a whale.
-7th Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2): South-westerly gales forecast, so has reduced sail. Reasonably pleased with repairs. Happy to get rudder back in place. Has strengthened it all with ropes. Cracking noises, but it's working. Had a good night's sleep after all the stress and repair work. Not easy to switch from racer to DIY expert. Fewer worries after Horn but between New Zealand and the Horn needs the rudder to hold out. Not a keen DIY enthusiast, so tries to imagine he's doing an operation on an animal (he's a trained vet). Stressful after repairs, as wind got up very quickly, but he needed to be heeled over to allow glue to dry. Back on an even keel now. Lots of mist today, feels like autumn — the sort of day, when you would prefer to be inside in front of a roaring fire.
-9th Marc Guillemot (Safran): I'm in a calm zone, which was forecast. I have been taking advantage to try to repair my traveller track, but with the swell, it was too dangerous, so I failed in my attempt. I was hoping to do it instead of having to shelter near an island later on. I rapidly got back in the race, and I got some rest, but last night I realised I was exhausted. The rhythm for the body has been upset so my body clock is out of sync. I'm going to have to get back in the rhythm.
- 12th Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas): I've been busy. Suffered from a torn solent. Managed to furl it, but doesn't think it can be repaired. Will miss it on the climb back up the Atlantic. The wind is veering northerly after the front. When I see what has happened to others I tell myself I'm lucky.
 

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