"I'm at ease sailing downwind. I love the deep south.  Last night was very strange with small calm zones and then 37 knots of wind.  My rivals were more regular than me.  It's normal they narrowed the gap.  I wasn't sure what to do this morning as the wind eased off.  What sails should I have up?  We've got so many that it takes a lot of thinking about.  I decided to wait to see what would happen and I was right, because the wind has strengthened since then. This is a very close race.  It's going to be a battle all the way to the finish."

Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) talking to his shore team this morning.

 

The French Southern and Antarctic Lands are considered to be French overseas territories and have a total surface of 2,500,000 km² Apart from Terre Adélie in Antarctica, there are the Crozet Islands (340 km²) the furthest west in the Indian Ocean, the Kerguelens (7215 km²), the furthest from the continents, St. Paul and Amsterdam the furthest north, as well as various scattered islands North of Reunion and in the Mozambique Channel.

 

After suffering keel head damage, Dominique Wavre (Temenos II) decided to head for the Kerguelens. In spite of 30-knot winds, Temenos II has continued to make good progress towards Morbihan Bay.   At 8h30 UTC this morning, Dominique had around 15 miles to sail.  However, he will have to make a series of tacks in order to enter the bay and so he is only expected to moor up late this morning (UTC).  

 

"I'm starting to notice the time difference.  It's getting dark at around 16h UTC and light at 23H UTC. You get used to the new times, as it happened gradually. The Kerguelens are behind us and we had a few e-mails from the crew of the "Croix du Sud" a Breton fishing boat that is out here until early February before returning to Reunion in mid-February. They are in the Kerguelens and Crozet area for 7 to 8 month a year fishing for the toothfish (a bit like our hake).  There were 30 on board (A Breton skipper, some from Reunion, Madagascar, Ukraine and Indonesia).  The captain was from Le Guilvinec and his mate from St Guenolé, the mechanic from Trevignon and the bosun from Douarnenez.  the other boats in the area were from Sein, Lesconil, Loctudy.  All a long way from home.  Wherever you go, you find Bretons, even in the middle of the Indian Ocean."
Armel (Brit Air) in his daily message

 

"I'm trying to push Cheminées Poujoulat along as best I can, while dealing with a few technical problems.  I ended up having to change the alternator because I couldn't find what was causing the power problem. It seems to be working now, but I'm using quite a bit more diesel than planned, so I'm going to have to ration my use of power.  The desalinator is on the blink again. The intake is taking in air so getting fresh water takes a long time.  The GPS antenna was swept away by a wave.  The conditions aren't too bad for the moment.  We're sailing downwind and there are no extreme situations coming up.  It is fairly cold, but fine weather with occasional squalls of hail and snow.  The distance to the leaders seems to be stabilising and they may even be extending their lead.  We're going to have to be patient and seize any opportunities."

Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) in an e-mail this morning. 

 

"It snowed last night! A nice little freezing snow squall! Yesterday was just a beautiful day, albeit full of sail changes and manoeuvres. However, as it was sunny and the sea was beautiful, I didn't mind running around on deck! I even had my factor 50 sun cream on! At the end of the day, there was a beautiful sunset, a rare sight down here, followed by an amazing clear night with a full moon. Again, the manoeuvres continued all night too, but I was happy to experience the amazing night. As we are so far South now, in the "summer time" we must be nearing the longest day as it never really got dark. To the South, the sky stayed that deep "twilight" blue as the sun can't have been far from the horizon. To the north, the moon lit up the sky brilliantly. There was so much light, I could have spotted an iceberg! The sky wasn't totally clear, there were a few  squalls, of the "40-knot snow squall" variety. It was fun to see my first snow of the South, and with all the sail changing involved in keeping Roxy upright in these squalls I didn't even notice the cold!"
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message