The first boats have now passed the Kerguelen Gate, the second Ice Gate.  Sébastien Josse (BT) was the first to inform the Race Directors that he had passed to the north of this gate at 1h20 UTC.  He was followed just over an hour later by Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec Virbac 2) at  02h29 UTC and Yann Eliès (Générali) at around 02h40 UTC.  Since then, Veolia Environnment, Gitana Eighty, Ecover 3 and VM Materiaux have also passed this compulsory waypoint.

 

"Last night there was a steady 35-40 knots of wind, and the boat was going well. All seemed to be fine, until I checked the masthead this morning, and the shorter of the two wind instrument wands had come adrift of its mounting and was hanging by its cable, its wind cups still spinning gamely as it hung upside down. The tall wand is still working well, and I have everything crossed that it continues to do so. Not sure what happened, either the slamming broke the socket, or perhaps a bird tried to land on the top of the mast. I have seen birds try to do that in the day time, but they would probably have hit the tall wand first, so it was probably the slamming that broke this wind vane. There is no way to go up the mast in these conditions, so it will have to stay up there for now, and hope it stays out of the way of the halyards.  Out here on the IMOCA 60 it's business as usual, 35 knots downwind, drizzling and with the boat leaping around like a rodeo bull as we go over and through the waves, going around the Antarctic and heading for Cape Horn, 11,000 miles away. It’s a downwind race the whole way there till we turn the corner back into the Atlantic again. But I am getting ahead of myself, there is a month to go in the Southern Ocean and I need to focus on getting through each day as fast as possible and with as few technical problems as possible, whilst staying on the fastest course. There is plenty to do, and these are the most challenging and unique sailing conditions in the world, big waves, storms and cold waters. It's what makes this race, the Vendee Globe, the toughest in the world and the Mount Everest for solo sailors."
Brian Thompson (Pindar) in his daily message yesterday evening

 

"Just as it was getting dark last night I was deciding whether or not to shake a reef out – yes, no, yes, no – “I'll give it five minutes”  this went on for about an hour and then I decided yes shake a reef,” you can always put it back in” I said to myself.  Shook the ref out, boat sped was up pilot was coping, happy days. I went down below and hung my oilskin jacket up to dry.  The boat started to load up and take off on the occasional wave, and obviously because I had shaken a reef, the wind had increased.  So, up she went onto one particularly large wave – the rumbling noise of the water on the hull increased as we picked up speed – 18, 19,20,21.  at this point the boat was very arced up and the pilot seemed to be playing “how fast  can we go”.  The answer was very fast, but I didn’t have time to look – I launched myself through the hatch to get to the wheel, as torrents of cold water hosed the boat down.  Disengage pilot, bear away, that was the plan, but too late.  We basically broached to weather – I managed to bear away hard, and the acceleration was immense – water everywhere, mainly down my oilskin trousers and into my boots.  Bore away so hard with such pace (I was steering kneeling down on the cockpit floor) that we crashed gybed – wheel the other way, boom comes back, jibtop comes back, I am soaked, cockpit full of water – nice job.  A couple more firsts for both the boat and me!! I then laughed at myself as I put the reef back in taking us to the same place that we were about an hour ago – only I was exhausted and now totally wet through.  Brilliant, must try that again!!"

 

Jonny Malbon (Artemis) on his daily message.

"As for the routine activities on Foncia, we have several on offer an a few workshops: bailing out the bilges, foot massage, stock-taking, as I'm a bit of a naughty boy and don't finish my meals leaving what I don't like.  Then, for those, who like exercise there's plenty of stacking to do. Always a way to do better, a typical attitude for the friends of Michel Doré (Mike Golding - -editor).  This tack is only going to last two and a half days. While you're doing that, I'll be taking a nap.  It's tiring when there's nothing to do, so I'll go and rest..."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message during the night

 

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) covered the greatest distance towards the finish.  From 20h yesterday evening until this evening, he covered 397 miles.  Currently in 9th place, he is now only 87.4 miles from the leader.

 

"At 1510 UTC today, at 40 deg 20'min S and 1 deg 05 min E, GA3 passed north of a point of the first ice gate. We are with gray overcast skies, periodic rain, 25-30 knots of wind, and making 12 knots with solent and 2 reefs in the main. The pilot is doing a good job. The barometer is rising slightly as the very steady weather pattern of the last several days, being sandwiched between a moving low to the south, and the South Atlantic high to the north, is changing finally. We are en route for the second ice gate4-5 days down the track.  The boat surges from time to time into the 20 knot range, like on a rail, she stands up straight and drives ahead, the faster boat speed makes a faster wind speed which makes a faster boat speed which makes a faster wind speed which makes a ... you get the picture. It cycles up until something throws it off, a wave, a flaw in the wind... but from the chart table, especially in the dark, it is very, very tense... the loads go up as the speed goes up, and you just hope that everything comes out OK at the end of the surge."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message