"OK.  I admit it.  What may in a month's time seem like nothing remains the focus our attention.  I'm talking about the start of the high-speed sailing as here the seas are still choppy and although I'm huddled in my seat, it's not easy to type when you are hitting 40km/h in a ploughed field in a Golf with the tyres pumped right up, so I won't go into the subject for now."  

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his e-mail from last night

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is currently in 14th place, 290 miles from the leader and around fifty miles from his next target, Sam Davies.
"I don’t have the pressure of being with the leaders. I’m driving the boat at my pace and in a more relaxed manner. I’m not going to catch them up in two days… Look at the time I’ve taken to catch up with those with boats with less potential… It’ll be more difficult to catch the latest generation boats, which is entirely normal!  Currently I’m looking as far as the first gate. We should get there around 3rd December and then we’ll bounce from gate to gate, which should take about 5/ 6 days of sea. This will enable us to have fairly high quality weather data, which will make the tactics fairly interesting and not such a lottery."

 

Vincent Riou (PRB), in sixth place, 10.6 miles from the leader in a message to his shore team.
"I'm under staysail with two reefs in the main. Feeling relaxed. We're not going to change our way of doing things. It's perfectly logical what is happening ahead. It will be stable again for a few hours, then another compression as we enter St. Helena. I'm sticking to my route. This morning I had a huge squall. The wind is getting up again and the seas are confused again.  I think we'll be back to two reefs shortly. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, what with adjustments to ensure the boat keeps moving, and it will be time for a clean up for the boat and me.  It will be one of the final opportunities to take a shower before we hit the south… Afterwards, it will be too cold, so you put off washing for as long as possible."

Derek Hatfield (Algimouss-Spirit of Canada) is in 24th place this afternoon 1483 miles from the leader.  Here is an extract from his daily message:
"More upwind work on the south side of the line. I crossed the equator last night at 21:42 UTC. With the head winds, I'm headed a little bit too much west for my liking but tomorrow the wind should back a little to allow me more south heading. Upwind is difficult sailing in an IMOCA 60 as the boats are wet on deck and the motion is random at best. Inside the cabin is hot so not sure where is left other than the cuddy just outside the door."  

 

Steve White (Toe in the Water) is in 17th place, 657 miles from the leader, sailing at the latitude of Espirito Santo.  

"Last night I was about to do some filming and send a blog when the mother of all squalls came through.  We broached, and I dealt with it in the usual manner and went back downstairs. Ten minutes later there was a sickening bang, the boat came upright, and there was a papery rustling sound which was my gennaker, or two bits of it. The bolt rope had broken, which meant the sail took all of its load, and the head pulled off it. Not a big repair, but in an important place. It took ages to get it back on deck, it is quite a big thing on your own at roughly twenty five metres by twelve by twenty three! It did not want to go into it's bag either, but I couldn't leave it loose on deck! The only problem is it is about three feet around at the moment, so it won't go down the forehatch.  The worst of it is in between the squalls it is the sail I really need at the moment. I delayed putting it up as it is eight or nine years old, and I didn't want to obliterate it in a squall which is precisely what I did. Poor old sail, but it will live again."  

 

"The number of miles to make up is declining each day… I'm pleased about that, but it's only going to last a few more hours, as we're going to get held up.  I'm in squalls, making the route that much more difficult with some cross, choppy seas. There's a long way to go still.  There's no point in trying to get around the high. I'm not getting the same winds, as those at the front.  I'm spending  quite some time inside, but I have seen a lot of birds, petrels and some more flying fish.  My terrace is just great: covered when it is sunny and closed when it is cold… "

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) on this morning's radio session.