"Yesterday evening, there was a beautiful cloud.  After the cloud went over, the wind disappeared and the sails flapped.  I caught sight of Foncia ahead of me in the distance.  Then, she got away leaving me standing for two hours doing 1 knot.  Think the Doldrums are behind me now.  Looking forward to the southern hemisphere.  Now, I'm going to be leaning over sailing upwind."

Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)

 

At dawn, Jérémie Beyou and Jean Le Cam joined their friends on the other side of the Equator. The next to cross will be Dominique Wavre and Brian Thompson, currently less than fifty miles from the line. They are currently passing a dozen small volcanic islands called St. Peter and St. Paul's Rocks, which are 1000 km off Natal (Brazil).

 

Sam Davies (Roxy) has made it through the Doldrums and is now in 13th place, 217 miles from the leader.

"Well, the Doldrums was very kind to us this year! Our little group of boats (Temenos, Pindar, Roxy and Safran) managed to slip through without really slowing down. Now we are careening along upwind in the SE trade winds, just North of the equator. The reason that we had no "doldrums" was because I wanted a light patch of wind to re-do a lashing at the top of my mainsail, which meant dropping the sail, working at radar-height  in my climbing harness, and then re-hoisting. So, I had to do it in 16 knots of wind, which was a little challenging, but totally do-able. The good thing was that the re-hoist was less hard as I went to one reef! With just the solent up, we actually didn't slow down too much either.
So, now it is an upwind ride for a while, where I struggle to keep up with these new powerful boats, so I will be trying as hard as I can to keep Roxy at 110% all the time! Tomorrow I will cross the equator, so I shall make my offering to Neptune (he gets champagne and chocolate) to thank him for looking after us so far and to negotiate good winds for the rest of the trip!"

 

This message was written by Dee Caffari (Aviva), shortly before she was overtaken by Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) last night.  This morning, she is in 16th place, 341 miles from the leader.

"All was well while we were in clear skies with an easterly breeze, then we entered the Doldrums.  The first black cloud, I laughed at as it barely washed the deck. In fact all it did was make the Sahara Dust run like mud. Then I entered the Daddy of all clouds and ended up seeing 20 knots and after a variety of directions it came from the west. My course now was all over the place as I could only sail in what I was in and the clouds were giving localised effects. The clouds would pick me up and spit me out in no wind calm patches. Getting wet every so often was good as it was really hot but   there was so much to do washing was not an option, still a fresh water rinse is as good in my book! Now it is dark and the fun has vanished. There is no moon and no indication of the clouds. The radar shows you the worst of the cloud but as you sail you are just waiting and feeling for what is going to happen next. I am writing this as I saw a clear patch ahead and I also just had to get out of my wet clothes as I was starting to get cold." 

 

"We're going to spend quite a few days heeled over to the right – I'd say about a week – and so it is important for the boat to be ready for that.  This latest phase is going to be a compromise between speed and course. I'm going to have to get used to this angle and the lop, but the next few days offer an opportunity to recover before turning off. We now have our sights set on the St. Helena high. Today, it isn't very clear, as it's moving around and trying to establish itself, but that's some time off anyway."  Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80)

Message sent during the night by Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), who was slowed down at the start of this week-end:
«Always the same on Friday evenings heading back home on the motorway.  You must know the toll booth at St Arnoult?  At 17H, you always get stuck and this evening nothing's moving here very fast and then there are the guys telling me I've been driving too fast to get here... So I was kept in for a while and we all get wet in the rain.  22h.  They let me go.  Move along now.  In fact, the trade wind had reappeared and the final dark squall was gone. What a joker, this St Arnoult!  Next?  Saint Helena.  She's not on the motorway to the west, but to the south.  Mich."