"The other day, someone asked me: "describe the sea!". He should have asked me to describe a sheep.  I don't know how to draw, but I could have managed that.  But the sea? I think there's a lot of white, as the Swiss say. How can I explain that? You often hear sailors saying "There are some seas!"  Obviously, as 75% of the planet is sea.  What they mean is there are waves. The waves are made by the wind blowing. The stronger it blows in the same direction, the higher the waves, to keep it simple. Behind the low-pressure area , this morning, the seas became rougher, the wind shifted and is still blowing strongly.  Now it's completely confused, blowing in every direction.  I think that tomorrow in the high, it's going to be hard and light. Just be careful, if someone offers you a sea platter - that can mean anything."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message

 

"Hi there, For more than two hours, I have had light winds with sleet.  Hat and gloves time ... It's not easy to push the buttons on the pilot with gloves on!  This truly an international Vendée Globe, as I'm surrounded by foreigners.  So how do I say Verandas in English? Take care!"
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)in his daily message

"All is good on the yellow submarine today. This morning we had strong gusts and I was shipping lots of water which made me feel like a submarine but that has eased as has the size of the surf. Gybing and moving the stack around below decks will keep me warm tonight as it is very cold at night but the dawn arrives early at about 3am which confuses your body clock slightly."

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in 16th place this evening, 736 miles from the leader.

 

Jean-Pierre Dick's southerly option on Paprec-Virbac 2 has enabled him to cover the greatest distance towards the finish of all the boats in the fleet today.  Between 19h UTC yesterday and this evening the leader sailed 424.1 miles towards the finish or in other words achieved a VMG of 17.7 knots over 24 hours.

 

"After the strong winds of the last few days, sandwiched between a high and low to create a good gradient, we finally slipped out of the funnel and were faced with lighter winds to the east. So decided to gybe south toward the stronger breezes, likely for a day, then to gybe back for the next icegate, hopefully in stronger wind. Worked down the job list, re-seal a stanchion that was leaking, go into the keel compartment to lubricate the sheaves. There have been some big groans coming from in there and hopefully this will help. Bailed a half bucket from forward and from the sail compartment, still trying to understand where the leak forward is coming from, perhaps the ballast tank vent, just can't tell. It's gray, misty rainy, gray, but it's nevertheless always a wonder to see the albatross fly. They have forgotten more about flying than fighter pilots ever knew. One grandpa came by, enormous, 10' or 11' wingspan, huge body, and never, ever, flapping his wings, just gliding, gliding, gliding...amazing. Got several naps last night, but still seem very tired. Think the toll of the stress of the high speeds the last few days has added in, and also I think that the healing of my rib just needs more sleep.  Likely ashore, the prescription would be 2 weeks of bedrest, not, go sail the Vendee Globe!"
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message

 

"The high pressure has already joined up with the tail end of the fleet and it is likely to gobble up Safran and I from this evening, then it will start having an effect on the leaders tomorrow morning. Everyone is likely to be slowed as the zone of high pressure is so big; it runs from north to south, that is from 40°S as far as the latitude where ice is indicated. According to the grib files, it was unrealistic to imagine we could escape it, other than maybe dropping right down to the south, but that would involve a high risk of encountering ice. " 

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) talking to his shore team today.