"The gales, the lows that have crushed us for a week are gone for now, which sounds as though we must be mightily relieved, and we are, except for what has happened in the aftermath. Not quite fetching the west end of the east Australian ice gate, I gybed last night north east, to get to more wind on the grib file. The file showed a little wave, a smaller front, that would roll through in the night. It had 15-20 knots of wind. That was in the computer file. On deck, we had a series of squalls in the high 30s, then in the high 40s, seeing 48 knots in 3 different squalls. Between these, the wind would drop to 12 knots. What to do with the sails? Go up tentatively, and come down in a panic. At one point, I went from 2 reefs to 3 and rolled the solent entirely with the biggest blackest cloud in the book about a half mile astern and coming fast. Finally, with 3 reefs and no jib, I trusted the pilot and climbed into the sleeping bag, there was nothing I could do on deck to stabilize this weather or our sailing, so might as well try to rest rather than exhaust myself. Finally it has stabilized at 25+/- and we're moving with solent and two reefs, still a bit tentative. A milestone today, we passed the west end of the east Australian ice gate, so one more mark checked off."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

"Good morning or good evening, depending on where you are. I've made it to 179 W.  The wind shifted, as forecast, making it a little more difficult since this morning. Listening to the Doors and thinking of the next Pacific Gates.   I force myself to carry out a tour of inspection each day both on the deck and down below. Problems happen so suddenly.  I just found a packet of cake I had lost. I also discovered I have some presents for the New Year.  Father Christmas was really generous this year!"
Arnaud Boissières (Akéna Vérandas)in his daily message
 

"What a difference a day makes, it is really incredible. The wind has eased, and this mornings big squalls have been replaced with a gentle eighteen to twenty knots of breeze which is giving us a broad reach in beautiful sunshine with not a cloud in site - not one! It is incredibly bright outside and the sea is a rich mid blue flecked with small amounts of white here and there, the albatross look like they have been freshly bleached and positively shine. It is like I have rediscovered colour after days of grey - the red of the mainsheet and the yellow of the little tracker beacon lashed to the back of the boat are vivid as if seen as if through new eyes. I have been on deck for the first time in as long as I can remember without oilskins and not got soaked. I had one of the last tortelinis with two pots of tomato sauce and some of the cheddar grated on top, and a slice of bread, which is vacuum packed.   I finished up with a couple of satsumas, I have hardly any of those left now, and as the fridge (cockpit) is warming up they won't last long now. Suitably fortified I am now ready for anything. Now we are at the half way point it is strange to begin to see how things have been used up. I have used one of the big tanks of diesel, and I have one left and a full day tank with another eighty eight litres in it, so we should be fine. Most of the freeze dried main meals I like have gone too, and I am left with lots of rice dishes - I am not a good vegetarian and not that keen on rice! The wind is forecast to ease further, and I am going to take advantage of this and do some mending! The gooseneck and the generator namely, but in the meantime I am going to enjoy the sunshine and waste some diesel on listening to the stereo much too loudly!"
Steve White (Toe in the Water) in his daily message
 

"Just as I was contemplating my sleeping bag, there was a loud bang as Roxy hit something small, but solid. I know the sound and recognised that my rudder had popped up on the impact (to save itself) so I rushed on deck to make sure it was out of the water. It was the leeward rudder that had ejected, so now Roxy was careering dangerously all over the ocean as Chuck (the pilot) desperately tried to control us with the remaining rudder, which was only half in the water half of the time. To avoid all sort of wipeout I quickly dropped 3 reefs into the main and rolled the solent. Then I started on the rudder. It has a nice "war wound" to show for the impact, but nothing serious. Unfortunately it was the rudder that I have already repaired, so I had to do some un-bolting and 'DIY' before I could put a new fuse in and put the rudder back down. This took a little while, and the usual dunking in the back of the boat with my head underwater as the waves break into my workspace whilst I re-bolted the thing back together! All in 25knots of wind and the pitch black, of course. By this time, the wind shift I was waiting for had materialised and so I needed to gybe,  This was concluded with the shaking of two of the three reefs I had hastily put into the main earlier. By this time you can imagine how tired, hot and sweaty I was. But the wind was dropping, less than 25 knots and I needed Genevieve, the big gennaker. I considered my state of fatigue (very) and the fact that it was still quite "fruity" for the installation of Genevieve and decided that a couple of hours sleep would put me in better (and safer) form for the manoeuvre! So, I treated myself to the rest, and now Genevieve is in place, and ROXY is rocketing along - her old self again!"
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) currently in the lead, 9558.6 miles from the finish, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish. Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 398.6 miles

After retiring from the race on 7th December, Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) is continuing to head up the Atlantic and is currently sailing off the Canaries. He now intends to stop in Cascaïs in Portugal on 2nd January to spend a few days there, which will allow him to get some more fuel, rest and study the weather before heading up the coast of Spain into the Bay of Biscay. His goal is still to sail all the way home to Bilbao, which he should reach in the first half of January.