"Well I have to say it has been another difficult 24 hours on board. None of the weather models have borne any resemblance to reality. This makes planning anything very difficult, but worst of all it leaves the day wide open to worry and check and double check all the routing solutions. This is very time consuming and very unrewarding when you come away with no real answers, predictions or routes!  It also leads me to think that all my instruments were misreading, and giving false readouts!! This is not good especially when I am sailing downwind and each gybe (change in direction) takes about 40 mins and is VERY labour intensive. Anyway I think I have cracked it; rather than barrel west to get in line behind the others I have gybed back to the south. We shall have to see if it pans out over the next few days. I have some confidence in this particular model, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed! If things don’t materialise quite how I envisage, I can still head west after the Cape Verde islands which are now approx 100 miles south of me.

My beard is getting long enough not to be itchy now, so I will have to decide whether to keep and go full man of the sea, or whether to have a shave in the doldrums. Tough decision I hear you say!! Those are the kind of things that fill up the rest of my day – shall I have a cup of tea now, or in five minutes is another common one!!"

Jonny Malbon (Artemis) currently in 19th place, 467 miles from the leader

 

"Having gybed onto starboard to get a bit further West, I took the opportunity to climb up my mast to check everything was OK. It is easier for me on starboard tack and I think this the last time I'll be on this tack for a while!
A great view from up there! All was OK, so I whizzed back down to ground level.  Then as I was getting ready to gybe I saw a little sail on the horizon! Pindar!!  
So now we are sailing along, side by side (well, almost - I'm just in front for the moment actually!) with Brian. We had a quick chat, but I didn't want to stop him from his sail repair for too long! It's nice to sail in company for once - and funny to think in an ocean so huge that we can "bump" into each other like that!"  Sam Davies (Roxy) currently in twelfth place 267 miles from the leader.

The first intermediate record between Les Sables d’Olonne and the Equator, held by Jean Le Cam with a time of 10d 11h28’ in 2004 is not going to be broken. To better this, the leaders have until tonight (0h30 to be precise) to cross the Equator, which this morning is still some 500 miles ahead.  Covering this distance in 24 hours appears to be even more complicated, as there is the obstacle of the Doldrums blocking the way. The difficult weather conditions in the Bay of Biscay explain why this year's race is slower than the 2004 Vendée Globe.

 

Message received last night from Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat), 24th, 1173 miles from the leader.
«Hi,
News from Cheminées Poujoulat. Things are going rather well.  I'm taking advantage of a decent NE'ly flow to make good progress. I'm starting to see some squalls. The air is much more unstable and there are a lot of sail changes and trimming to do.  Each time I can, depending on the wind oscillations, I gybe to head a little further west, as I move southwards. The sea is a bit choppy with some short waves. But I think the wind is likely to ease off. The high speed sailing is over and it will be much quieter.  I haven't yet seen any flying fish and the moon is just disappearing.  I think we're lucky, as it will be back with us as we enter the Indian, when we really need it.  Having some problems with the video system, which isn't working now.  Think it comes from when we removing the mast and restepping it back in Les Sables. I hope to be able to see what's wrong. There's also something with the camera,as the battery charger has a bug. I'll sort it later on and hope to be taking pictures and filming as soon s possible.
Enjoy the rest of the night.»

 

Message received from Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia, 18th) at 1h00 this morning:
«Going through the islands in about an hour from now. Lots of waves up to fifteen miles upwind of the islands. It's strange, as I hadn't noticed it, but it's warm.  You imagine that it's going to be sunny  all day long and ideal for sunbathing, but in fact, it's not at all like that.  It's cloudy throughout the day, but for two days now the skies have cleared at night, which has allowed me to appreciate my mentor, Orion the hunter, who's looking down on me. He may be a hunter, but he doesn't have a gun or sword.  The close combat stuff with a sword is for later, I hope..."

 

Almost tying for fifth place with Yann Eliès (Générali) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air), also 61 miles from the leader, Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty), Vincent Riou (PRB) talked to his shore team today. «The good news is the bunching up of the leaders in the fleet. As far as the Doldrums are concerned, it's too early to draw any conclusions.  As always, it's going to be a game of poker.  The only rational analysis you can make about this zone is to say that by being out to the west, you run fewer risks. But for everything else, it's largely down to luck.» Vincent Riou (PRB)