Message de la nuit envoyé par Armel Le Cléac’h à bord de Brit Air
 
«Brit Air went by the island of Trindade during the night. I was reading my second book, Bernard Moitessier's "The Long Route" and here's an extract:
 
"Land in sight on 29th September 1968.  Steady NE'ly wind, force 3, under sheer blue skies. Trindad is getting bigger and bigger and gradually reveals her colours, then all her details.  The island is high, with a very jagged coast, with huge cliffs which go from deep blue to mauve, according to their angle to the sun. There is some pink in there too, but not much green. A beautiful, very beautiful island. I would like to go around it, on the edge of the cliffs, sitting on the spreaders to get a good look at the shallow."  
Unfortunately for me, this island will just be a dot on the chart and so I won't be able to admire her beautiful colours. Maybe some other time?
Armel»

 

«Gosh!  In a few hours from now, one of the basic concepts we tell our children (and I was once) will crumble. Let me explain: "Tell us the story of the sun coming from behind us, Grandad.  Well, twenty years ago, as I was going down the South Atlantic trying to round the St. Helena high, (yes, once again she's on our mind), I was at the helm early in the afternoon and I couldn't see the sun, but the previous helmsman had told me to head south. I look at the compass: 180°, all is well, but still no sun ahead of me.  It is behind me!  Amazement. I check the compass; 180°.  Did they lie to me? They (in fact it was my mother, who told me this and so I thought it was the absolute truth) taught me: the sun rises in the east, is at its zenith in the south  and sets in the west. East-west.  OK. But for the south, there's a problem! Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Time for some practical work.  When did the sun suddenly move behind us? Another three days of heading south , before we turn left, so I'll have plenty of time to get used to it. No moon, but the stars are out.  The waves are coming in every direction, so impossible to go quickly.  We're leaping up and down, slamming, being shaken around.  Not nice.  Variable winds, and consequently speeds too.
Mich DESJ »

 

"Hi there, I'm pleased to be sheltering in my watertight veranda.  The neighbour appears to have left on his automatic watering system and if I want to admire the stars and the clouds, I need to put on the wet weather gear.  my veranda is gliding along nicely, or at least as well as can be hoped, leaning like the Tower of Pisa. It's one in thye morning and I've just had a night feast, gingerbread and some tea.
P.S.: If you see the neighbour tell him to turn it off!"
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)

 

"All is good on board. It is a wet and bumpy ride that seems to be getting faster. I blew my mainsheet block today so had to drop the main and find a fix. With a new block lashed in place we hoisted the main again and are back sailing."  Dee Caffari (Aviva)

"I know which parts are broken, but I need to inspect the standing rigging and the mast. It may be delaminating, where the spreaders kept hitting the mast.  Before repairing or setting sail again, I need to be certain that it's safe.  The whole of the Delta Dore team is in place, as are the suppliers. This is a massive blow for everyone, but we have to look at it calmly and rationally in Recife under shelter. I managed to climb up again to untangle the stays, but time is dragging.  The closer I get to Recife, the closer I get to the moment of truth." Jérémie Beyou (Delta Dore)  

 

During today's radio session Brian Thompson (Pindar) talked about his current race within the race.  This afternoon, he is in eleventh place between Dominique Wavre and Marc Guillemot.

"We’ve got a little race on here with Temenos and Safran, and all day yesterday I was with Temenos, we had a very good sail in similar conditions to this.
How do we compare to Safran? We’re very different. We’ve been quite similar over the past couple of days, Safran has probably been a touch faster. She’s been a little bit more in the east, which may have helped her but there’s not much to choose between them.
I remember at the start Safran as well was very fast and she’s a particularly good boat upwind, which is surprising when you look at those curved foils, but maybe that long chine helps her go upwind as well. But it’s going very fast a lot of the time with Ecover as the boat with the highest averages."