"At approx 1236 UTC today I hit a large animal, probably a whale at 15 knots.  The boat stopped dead in the water, and remained there for about a minute until the animal released itself from the daggerboard. I was under 1 reef and Jibtop at the time.  Once we had broken free, we sailed off very quickly, but I could clearly see the animal astern in a lot of trouble.  I have some serious damage to my starboard daggerboard, but the boat is fine and the structure surrounding the daggerboard is intact.  We have not taken on any water. I will be continuing to race, and will monitor the condition of both the board and the boat."  
Jonny Malbon (Artemis) in his early morning message


 

"I don't know what it's like where you are, but here it was a dull weekend.  Nobody rang, nobody wrote, as it was the weekend. Then on Monday, its starts again:
"- What did you do this weekend?
- Sailing and you?
- Me too.  We sailed.  It was cold the rain was horizontal, raining cats and dogs
- So you were in Brittany?
- How did you guess? As they say, the weather isn't bad in Brittany.  It's the boots that are bad!
- So how did the race go?
- I hopped into the bus lane, which meant I slipped by. Fortunately there were no police around to stop me.  Otherwise I'd have been in trouble.
-What about the others?
- I don't know really. I was a long way away. Had a bad start.  Haven't seen everything that has  been happening. Wondering whether they haven't run into a patch of oil on the road as they were all over the place.  Think one may have gone into the ditch and dented his wheels hubs."

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his night message

 

"The wind has eased off and is now more from astern.  We're making our way around the St. Helena high. As usual a lady is the centre of our attention, even in the middle of nowhere.  At the moment, the problem is trying to get as close as possible to the centre of the high to avoid going the long way around, but at the same time not too close because of the risk of falling into wind holes.  Looks like a busy night making sail changes to adapt to the wind shifting behind us.  Hope we don't get delayed in this high for too long, as our mates have already found the westerly wind." 


Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat)

 

After discussions with Dee Caffari's doctor, concerning her knee problem, it appears the inflammation does not concern the joint, but only the tissue around the knee cap.  This is probably due to resting too long on this area during the long period of upwind sailing heeled over on the starboard side. Thanks to the treatment and advice she has received, it now seems to be improving.  She must, however, monitor the situation over the coming days.
Dr Jean-Yves Chauve

 

Steve White completed his 30-minute penalty yesterday evening at 20h04 UTC.  Like several other competitors, he was given the penalty by the International Jury for passing a buoy on the wrong side shortly after the start from Les Sables d'Olonne.

 

Today's prize for the greatest distance covered towards the finish goes to Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), who clocked up 345 miles over the past 24 hours.  This evening, he is in eleventh place only 20 miles behind Marc Guillemot in the rankings.