Marc Guillemot (Safran) reached the Auckland Islands to the south of New Zealand this morning at 9h GMT. He has stopped in Sandy Bay, to the south of Enderby Island. It is already dark, but Marc must now climb his mast to repair his damaged mainsail track.
 

"This morning I managed to climb up to the second layer of spreaders to deal with the starboard lazy jack. There was still a very heavy swell before the calmer conditions arrived as the wind backed to the NW. Then, I changed a broken batten. Finally, Fondation Océan Vital is back on course and I'm pleased to be able to see her logo again in the mainsail and I can finally get out my Christmas presents. So rather late, Happy Christmas to everyone. I'm exhausted. I need to get some rest now, especially for my right arm. Before resting I'm going to take care of some damaged solar panels. I'm going to have to limit my consumption still further."
Raphaêl Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital)

"It's strange how there is so much subjectivity and everything is relative. This afternoon, a nice breeze on the water, brilliant sunshine, a few squally showers, heavy to very heavy seas, with waves reaching up to 9-10 metres, the equivalent to three floors. Now they're round 6m on average, and we don't take any notice. Wind: a bit, let's say 40 knots, often 45-48, squalls up to 53 knots, not km/h! White water, parallel to the wind, the crests of the turquoise waves as they break. Not easy though to find the right pace and sail to make headway. ET said: "Throw a bale of hay up and it will come down again." Coming down. Sailing downwind. We'll get there somehow. Somewhere out to the east. I said it was all relative... A day spent studying the sea. You know the squall coming up will have 55 or 51 knots, you know if you should furl the staysail or whether you'll stick it out as the front goes over in ten minutes. So I'm taking a sleep after dinner, there was 42-45 all the time. I wake up 40 minutes later, get up and look at the sea: It's really eased off! I'd say 25-30 knots, almost calm here. I look at the dials. It's eased off, but there's still 35-40. That's what the machine says, but I thought there was less. You get used to it... Pacific, means peace, anti-war?! The Roman said: «Si vis pacem para bellum». The sailor says "If you go to the Pacific, prepare the lowest reef"
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message

"Well it was inevitable, the being thrown from the bunk, finally happened last night, and I had a one point landing on my left eyebrow after a fall of 1.5 meters with my head leading the way. Coming out of the bunk and through the opening in the bulkhead is as if your body is funnelled so that your head lands first. I'd had several good naps, this was the third, I awoke either in flight or on impact, scrambled to get up, onto the chart table bench, felt my head, no bumps, forehead, no bumps, then felt that it hurt just above my eye, felt there, not damp nor wet but soaked in blood, the whole left side of my face was dripping blood. On the floor, on my down booties, on my sea boots, went to the mirror, what a mess, didn't know what was underneath all that blood, took paper towels and cold water and started to gently mop up, and gradually got down to the core problem, a cut under the eyebrow about 1" (2.5cm) long. I tried to see if there was anything in it, but couldn't. Eventually got it to stop bleeding, then let it scab a bit, cut and put a bandage over it. A black eye is coming. We checked for double vision, after all my whole head took a real hit, no problem with the vision, that's good. Another gale is en route, this one looks severe, will try to get organized for it early, we've had a wind shift already, totally "unforecast" on grib files, so don't know what the future here holds."
Rich Wilson (Great American III)
 

"At last, the wind has shifted aft of the beam, after what seems like days of upwind sailing. That definitely wasn't in the brochure! What's more, the sun's come out, and the fire hoses have (temporarily) switched off, and it's actually quite pleasant on deck! Roxy's been averaging an easy 15 knots all day and so we're BACK ON THE ATTACK! The Wind Gods are definitely smiling on Roxy today! I actually feel rather guilty here enjoying the "summer sailing" I've got, when a lot of the fleet are suffering storm force winds and perilous waves. I am so sad for JoJo, who was having an amazing race, before his boat, BT, got "dumped" by a freak wave. I am in pain for him, I can imagine what a terrible feeling it must be to see potential victory snatched away from you in an unlucky handful of seconds. I really hope he manages to repair and get going quickly. He's one of my favourite three skippers in this race! Go JoJo - you can do it! Yet again, these are signs of how powerful this ocean is, and how fragile we are within it."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

Over the past 24 hours, Armel Le Cléac'h (Brit Air) currently in sixth place, 310.4 miles from the leader, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish.  Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 342.6 miles