"To motivate everyone aboard my veranda, I have found the perfect music on my i-pod for each manoeuvre: Dj ZEBRA, a bit of Star Wars and Joey Starr remixed: anyone with sensitive ears should avoid Noir Désir and the Doors ina remix. I've also got Ac/dc, Deep Purple, Red Hot, the Clash, Joy Division and some surprises (The Virgins, The Hives), some French classics (Boris Vian, Aznavour…) Available now in your record shop! In a few hours, I'll be passing the final Pacific Gate. There are some beautiful clouds, some rain, some birds, but you guessed that. Next time I'll bring my best camera. It's now been 60 days! I don't know whether that is long or not."

Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) in his daily message. 
 

"Finally passed the eastern end of the New Zealand ice gate. There is a big high pressure system to the north and the next gate is ENE, but the wind is mostly west and therefore pushing us closer to the no wind area of the high. Set the reacher last night but kept the first reef in the main as I think it is more stable for the unstable downwind conditions we have with lightening wind and trying to sail deep to avoid the high. Tried to get a bit more sleep in these calmer conditions. Spoke with Jonny Malbon as he made his way toward the North Island of New Zealand. He was in better spirits as he understands that his difficult decision was the right decision."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

"Here is a recap of events since my last filed report regarding landfall on the southern tip of Tasmania. I was able to motor the last 80 miles or so across the south side of Tasmania and then north to Hobart, arriving around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. A rigid inflatable with staff and volunteers from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania met me at the mouth of the Derwent River and assisted with getting me to a slip at the yacht club in Hobart. Sunday and Monday are just blurs in my mind as I slowly cleared the fuzziness out of my head and started to adjust to land again after 50 some odd days at sea and the shock of the retirement from the race. Slowly we are starting to work through the different options with regard to the way forward. I have been in contact with the mast builder in North America and we have determined that we need to take the mast out of the boat and do a thorough check of the masts and rigging. Some of the composite rigging has been compromised by the sharp edges of the broken spreaders so we will have to order some new cables before the boat can go sailing again. The logistics of how to get the boat home is more problematic and will take a while longer before we can make a decision on how to do this. "
Derek Hatfield (Algimouss -Spirit of Canada) in an e-mail this morning
 

"60 days! That's amazing - time goes so quickly in one sense I can't believe that we have been out here for two months, but at the same time it seems so long ago that day we left the channel of Les Sables d'Olonne! So much has happened since! Today I have been sleeping, after my last two days of eating lots, my body has changed request to one for lots of sleep! I think my body is trying to tell me something! Luckily the conditions have allowed me the time in my sleeping bag, lots of 60-90 minute sleeps with a few manoeuvres in between,some tidying of Roxy, and obviously the important weather and strategy work. I'm trying to plan a route past Cape Horn that is safe and fast, staying away from the lee shore, the islands and the ice, and dodging a little secondary low that is going to pass over us! I am a bit worried as I am starting to talk to my Roxyboat!! I never thought it would come to this, but today I found myself talking to her, telling her off for going to fast!! Oh dear, is this the first sign of madness? It can't be too bad - I even heard that Bilou calls his boat his "baby"..."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

Contacted during the weekly French Vendée Globe special, Yann Eliès gave us his news today, saying that he had turned the page and was now looking towards the future and thinking of his racing career. He has a busy physiotherapy schedule: getting up at 7h00, swimming pool at 9h00 for walking in the water, walking exercises at 11h30, physio at noon, ice session at 13.30. He hopes to begin to put down his left leg in February and be back on his feet in 6 months. He talked about taking part in the Figaro Event, but has other projects that he will be discussing with his partner, Generali. Before that, he is going to have to be patient to become completely mobile again.
 

"A very successful boat repair day yesterday. Fixed the crack in the transom with shaped plates on the outside and inside of the hull and bolted together - sikaflex as a glue on the outside and epoxy on the inside. That seems to have stopped the noise of crunching nomex as the crack flexed, and with the amount of material I added I think that should be good till the finish. Also went halfway up the mast with the climbing gear, just before sunset to check chafe on the lower shrouds and made  some extra taping of some worn sections of cover. It was my smoothest mast climb so far in the Southern Ocean, my third and final one I hope. So they were the two most important jobs, next is to get the primary pilot system working again, before the wind kicks back in later today. The wind is forecast to fill in from the SW soon and that wind should take me half way to the Horn, once I can pass this gate. Good news is that the moon is getting bigger and it has just set, the skies have cleared slightly and above me I can see the constellations of Orion, the Southern Cross and arcing across the sky right above the mast is the milky way, with just near it, the faint outline of the Clouds of Magellan. That has made this rather frustrating night a bit brighter. Saw a satellite moving rapidly across the sky and realised that is the only man made thing I have seen, apart from Aviva, since entering the southern ocean. I have not seen any plane contrails here, nor any ships. It really is a wild place, and hope that it remains so. Soon it will be light, I should try to get a little sleep in, but strangely not tired at all, it might be the adrenaline from going up the mast earlier, or some quirky effect of the epoxy, though I hope not!"
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message