"I'm sailing permanently between 15 and 17 knots having found some wind that wasn't really forecast. I was just about to hoist the spinnaker and in the end I had to sheet in the sails.  Ahead it looks a real mess, and meanwhile, I've moved up a  few places. It was about time for the trend to be reversed."  Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) speaking on today's radio session.

 

Sébastien Josse on today's radio session:

"The sea is calm and I'm sailing at ten knots with the wind from astern… It's better than last night, when I came to a standstill for a few hours.  I had a lot of manoeuvres to do and a series of tacks.  I was kept busy on the winches. We don't really have the normal pattern of trade winds.  They are already disturbed by the Doldrums. I think we should reach them tomorrow (Wednesday) late in the afternoon.  But it's not easy to be more precise, as the situation keeps changing with each satellite photo, between yesterday's and this morning's.  In any case, we'll all be arriving there at the same time. The routing programmes show us (the leading group) arriving at the Doldrums with only ten miles separating us." Sébastien Josse (BT)
 

Currently in 25th place, 1608 nautical miles from the leader, after restarting the race, Derek Hatfield is currently sailing at the latitude of Southern Portugal and has finally picked up some strong winds.
"From flat seas and little wind to 25 knots and building seas. I've had a fast and furious night as the wind has kicked in from the NE. It started to build around midnight and I had the gennaker and full main and the boat took off on the flat seas, hitting speeds of 20 knots or more. With a moon lite night, it was fantastic sailing and I spend the night on deck watching the water rush by. I've changed to the genoa and one reef and am still getting surfs up to 20 knots. But now I'm tired and must sleep for a while to catch up."  
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada)

 

Contacted by his shore team this morning, Jean-Pierre Dick confirmed the weather in the Doldrums is particularly difficult to predict at the moment.
«About 400 miles from here, I'll be entering the Doldrums.  The weather info in the various models does not concur.  We have to take advantage of any opportunities that may appear.  I tend to be working by instinct in addition to what I see in the computer data."

 

"I went past the island of Santo Antao, the westernmost island of the Cape Verdes, last night. I was careful to leave 60 miles between me and the island to avoid any wind shadow... and I had checked on the satellite images that there was no nasty wind shadow..... BUT, between me checking, and me arriving there, something changed, and consequently I plonked myself in a bit of a patch of light wind. So, to take my mind off the fact that I had finally let Dominique overtake me, I got out my ipod and listened to some music out in the cockpit, where I could keep an eye on the sail trim at the same time, as in the light and shifty winds it is important to trim to perfection, and I did NOT want to give away any more miles than necessary! Although I am a bit frustrated, the consolation is that (except Dominique) I think the option to pass West of the islands will gain some miles on the others."

Sam Davies (Roxy)

 

"A good night for me – better speed and better direction.  Hopefully I will have taken a few miles off the guys directly in front of me. It's amazing to watch Mich sprinting down the west at such pace. Incredible.  Anyway, breakfast time once again.  I think I will have some porridge today, a bit more traditional than the curry I had yesterday!"
 
Jonny Malbon (Artemis II)