"Well, after a day of squalls yesterday, the sun is shining today and the wind seems a bit more consistent (albeit on the nose), which is good news. More good news is that the more consistent wind enabled me to sleep loads last night so I'm on great form!!  More good news - now it is cooling down I can enjoy my breakfast cup of Earl Grey tea once more! It was just too hot before. I've been looking at weather and hoping we'll squeeze through the high, and then we'll be off...... next stop when we get back to the Atlantic in a month or so! I've been thinking about the change to cold weather and strong downwind sailing with ROXY, and mentally planning how to shift around the gear to optimise our performance, and comfort. I think that this change will come quickly, and I want to be ready for it! In the meantime, I am also preparing a few more little maintenance jobs to do when the wind drops as we pass through the high pressure, to make sure Roxy is 100% strong and ready for the South!"  Sam Davies (Roxy) in her early morning message

 

"I prefer being the hunter rather than the hunted. It gets a bit annoying after a while to have a yapping dog going for your ankles all the time..."  Sébastien Josse (BT) in November ....2004.

"Yesterday I lost one of my slip-ons and my feet are pretty unhappy, as I'm going to have to do the rest of the round the world voyage in my boots and socks.  This evening I had to put a fleece on, proving that the Caribbean is behind us and that our route south since the Equator is taking us closer to the southern highway. I caught sight of Bilou with the binoculars and called him up.  He seems to be in fine form. He even saw an albatross, which was somehow lost up here.  A clear sign that the gateway to the south is just on the other side of the high...  "

Yann Eliès (Générali) in his early morning message.

 

After Derek Hatfield during the evening, the youngest competitor in the race,  Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Groupe Maisonneuve) crossed the Equator at around 6h15 this morning, meaning that all of those taking part in the race are now in the southern hemisphere.

Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily log yesterday evening talking about seeing an Arctic Tern, a bird known for covering huge distances around the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back.
"Had a call from my current neighbour, Dominic Wavre on Temenos, and it was great to chat as we voyage these waters together. He is also rested and is working on his boat. He is hopeful of catching some miles on the leaders over the next few days, and I am all for that! Passed by Trindade Island and saw it for the first time. Lots of sea birds came out for a look at the big blue Bahrain Team Pindar and I was sure that I saw an Arctic Tern amongst the other birds. Away from the island no birds, but still the occasional splash as another flying fish launches itself out of the water to skip away across the waves to land up to a hundred metres from its take off point. Cabin temp now 29 degrees and water temp 22.7°, It is noticeably cooler now. The days are growing noticeably longer now as well."

"There's something else that changes, when you are in the south and it happens as soon as you cross the Equator. Coriolis has turned around. Having said that, I'm wondering whether he actually exists here, as it has been six days we've had wind from the same direction.  South Africa must be emptying itself and Copacabana filling up.  The itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bikinis must be flying off. As if they needed any wind down there to get them off....Something crazy is happening at the front of the fleet, leading them to change tack to take advantage of a pressure gradient  to get in the miles to the east, and the troops are spreading out? Those of us poor guys following on behind a few gybes behind, can only continue southwards, still heeled over."  Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia)