Loïck Peyron (Gitana 80) is still in the lead this afternoon, 13 miles ahead of Sébastien Josse.  However, in spite of his sterling performance, even the leader finds the present sailing conditions rather unpleasant...

"Last night, there were storm squalls everywhere… as a result of a small neighbouring cold front! The wind is still fluctuating just as much as before in terms of strength, but the squalls are gradually giving way to greyish skies. I haven’t got sunshine yet, far from it, but we may well be heading towards a clearer spell. For the past 24 hours, the sea really hasn’t been very kind to us. On the nose and crossed… the seas are making life aboard complicated. You constantly have to hang on and watch every move you make in the boat. The current sea state isn’t as big or as powerful as that which we encountered in the Bay of Biscay during the storm of the first hours of racing, but it is considerably more unpleasant. It’s heeling, slamming and wet!   The past 24 hours certainly haven’t inspired me to take any long siestas in my bunk. However, that’s not such a bad thing as the numerous shifts in the wind require my presence on deck, which would leave me little time to sleep anyway. We have a real barrier in front of us! For the time being, we don’t have any choice,   but you still have to keep a constant eye on the zone of high pressure and respond quickly should the latter start to weaken."

 

"Sailing quickly with the seas coming straight at us is tough. You really have to be on your toes, as the boat can go above twenty knots at times… You need to ease out the sails to slow down.  The wind is between 17 and 23 knots and PRB is averaging around 17 knots. I lost some ground in the night, as I had a problem with the wind vane at the top of the mast: I had to take care of the boat, change the pilot over, switch over the vane… We're taking the long way around.  It's quite a detour around the western edge of the high-pressure area.  But that is only what the forecast is telling us for now and we cannot rely 100% on it.  The changes in the trade winds are quite surprising: it's a bit stressful and they're really shaking us up.» Vincent Riou (PRB) on today's radio session.  

 

In 2006, Dee Caffari became the first single-handed woman to sail round the world against the winds and currents.  She was expecting the voyage in the right direction to be more comfortable...

"This is not what the brochure promised – I’ve been done! I did this for six months and it sucks. And now I’m in a boat that really doesn’t like these conditions. But the difference this time is the noise. These Open 60 boats are very noisy upwind. I was sold the exciting downwind ride but here I am going upwind again. I’ve been sold a duff! It’s pretty uncomfortable – very wet on deck but still hot and sunny. It is hard to do stuff so its not easy living and it’s quite stressful. The waves are quite sharp and steep and everything jars when the boat crashes. The load is all on one side but there is no option to change anything because the other tack would be horrendous.  I am spending my time trimming, putting ballast in or out, or taking reefs out and putting them back in or looking at the weather or doing emails or checking my bilges. It seems ridiculous that there is so much to do. The wind is currently anything from 10-42 knots. It’s not too tiring but it is wearing because you want the boat to flatten out, to walk around the boat without having to hang on." Dee Caffari (Aviva)

 

Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) is currently in 25th place, 1487 miles from the leader.  After being slowed down due to some energy problems, the Canadian sailor is keeping an eye on Jean Baptiste Dejeanty (Groupe Maisonneuve), who is now under a hundred miles behind him.

"Approaching the doldrums now and I'm hoping that I will have as good a passage as the fleet did ahead of me. From the weather files, I might just get a break and make it through quickly. (Knock on wood). It was a great night last night, very dark but steady 19 knots of wind and good speeds.  Today I have all the sail up that I can find (mainsail and gennaker) and have been making good speeds towards the equator. I hand steered for 2 hours this morning and will do the same this afternoon. I'm feeling the heat from Jean Baptiste who is right behind pushing hard to catch up. He is providing me with some motivation to pick up the pace now that I sort of come to grips with the energy problems. All good stuff, as they say.  Take Care
Derek"

 

Having crossed the Equator yesterday morning, Steve White (Toe in the Water) is currently in 18th place, 719 miles from the leader. He wrote this message this morning, as he was sailing off Natal at the eastern tip of Brazil.
   
"I spent an hour on deck standing at the back of the boat and just watching, getting the occasional dousing in spray from a warm sea, and bathed in very powerful sunshine. I stood there until I was at risk of burning just watching a sea bird who was a bit like a racing gannet, very sleek and pointy with a brown back, white and brown underneath and with little orange feet. He was flying about thirty feet up directly to windward of the bow of the boat, with his head looking all about the sea surface just in front of the boat. After a short while it became apparent as to what he was doing; every few minutes, and sometimes more frequently, we would scare up one or sometimes a number of flying fish, whereupon he would do his Peregrine Falcon impression and chase them, inches above the water at high speed. On innumerable occasions he was oh so close that I'm sure he could almost taste them, they would go into torpedo mode, fold up their wings and disappear beneath the surface. He never got one, but he never gave up either. I can still see him out there now through the window as I write. I'm sure he'll get one in the end..."

 

Rich Wilson (Great American III) crossed the Equator during the night and filmed the countdown as the GPS went from north to south.  You can watch this video simply by clicking on the video in the media section.