"I have had the most surreal night. It has felt so strange just sailing and not trying to go anywhere. The most amazing fact of the night was that I was sailing under South America upwind. Now twice before I have sailed upwind in this neck of the woods but I never expected it on this race. So three times round Cape Horn and every time upwind, can you believe it? Aviva, true to form as always became a land magnet during our tour of the Continental shelf and we visited the Islands of Diego Ramirez. In that area and we were there for a while, I was surrounded with dolphins and countless birds. It was awesome. It was also at this time where I was struggling to stay away from the Islands that the centre of the low came over me and I had no wind and what little my instruments thought there was, was from all over the place. Here we go I thought the time has come. I was driving to try and stay away from the islands and get some boat speed. The clouds were building to my south and I knew rain and wind was coming. As I popped below to get my wet weather jacket I noticed we needed to charge. I turned the generator on and it started and stopped. Now was not a good time. Twice this happened and then I knew I had to become a mechanic. However, with rain and wind about to arrive, Islands close by and a storm to prepare for having a generator in pieces was far from ideal. The reality was I needed to charge. Time was now of the essence though and I think I even impressed myself that 40 minutes later I was back on deck sailing with the new breeze and the generator charging my batteries. The next bizarre moment was not long after this as the wind built quickly as expected. I put my forth reef in my mainsail with 20 knots of breeze. Hardly racing trim, but we needed to go slow to allow the depression to move and I knew that shortly I would be faced with huge winds and I needed to protect what little there is of my sail. I spent some time trying to cover the exposed fibres with bits of good sail and tying it up so now my fingers are crossed that it survives. Next stop is changing my staysail for the storm staysail and then I am as ready as I am going to be to face the music of our parting gift from the Southern Ocean."

Dee Caffari in her daily message
 

«In the Finistère Course au Large training centre in Port La Foret, an info board offers information about the Vendée Globe to inform visitors about how those from the centre are doing. We have in particular the five frontrunners (6 if you count Vincent). Kate has left a book for visitors to sign and among the messages, they had the following one. Ewen, 3 and a half: “Since Mummy put Michel Desjoyeaux in my bedroom, the dragon has been frightened and has left me and I can sleep without any worries!" A nice message?... What is reassuring is that I scare kids less than the nasty dragons..."
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) in his daily message
 

"Here, conditions are very very changeable! At the moment there are just 4 knots of wind (downwind), but only a few hours ago there were 40 (upwind)! This has left a bit of tricky sea-state and for most of the afternoon and evening I had to slow Roxy down as she was flying off the waves that were coming in the wrong direction! Very frustrating. Right now, the sea is still bad, so I have taken a reef in the main to prevent the sail from shaking the rig around too much as it "clack clacks" in the swell! Its the first time I've reefed in 4 knots of wind!Hopefully this calm patch will only last a few hours and we will pick up some Westerlies again in the morning. I'm not complaining at all, when I know that Dee, Brian and Cali are enduring the worst storm of the race at Cape Horn. My thoughts go out for them at this difficult moment in the race, and I hope they find adequate shelter and that the storm doesn't do any damage."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

"Trying to get north and across the trough of the storm and head out the other side toward the ice gate. We just can't go to windward in the big seas and 35-40 knots of wind that we have, so we have to go a circuitous route. Reached 17,000nm on the log today. Heard water sloshing maybe in compartment under cockpit, usually bone dry. Difficult to get to, via lazarette, in seas. Knew it would be violent back there, so wore helmet. Worse than violent, like the scene in Apollo 13 after the explosion, total chaos, should have also had on other padding, especially chest protector, lucky to escape no injuries, took out 3 buckets. A few more in there, but got the bulk. Have a few through deck fittings w/pedestal that maybe leak just a bit, but haven't looked in there in ages, so could accumulate tiny bit at a time."
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

"What an interesting time of the race on board Bahrain Team Pindar. Firstly getting around Cape Horn, and now preparing to spend 24 hours sheltering from a fierce storm behind Staten Island off the tip of Tierra del Fuego. Last night I had a magical rounding of Cape Horn. There were 40 knot winds and seas as I approached, and then in the last few miles the winds dropped, the seas calmed, and I sailed serenely past in the moonlight. The Cape’s massive triangular bulk loomed over Bahrain Team Pindar, and ashore 2 small lighthouses signalled their warning, though it felt perfectly safe just 2 miles off the shore. At times I could smell the land as the breeze shifted to the North, and after 60 odd days at sea that was a great pleasure. After the Cape it was a new world of flat seas, clear skies and a breeze from the north, it really is amazing the divide between one side of the Horn and the other. In the glow of Antarctica and the light of the moon it never got dark, and I set off at good speed towards the east tip of Staten island or Isla de los Estados. I got a call from the Race Committee to warn me of the severe gale that would strike between the Falklands and Tierra del Fuego. This is the one I have been following from its birth as a tropical depression between Tahiti and New Zealand, and it is now winding itself up again into a ball of warm fury as it spins towards Cape Horn. The limited weather data I have now did not show the severity of the storm. It is certainly the strongest storm of this Vendée Globe according to the experts, and I was not going to disagree with the combined knowledge of Météo France and the Chilean forecasters. So tonight I will have 60 knots of northerly winds as I shelter behind the 30 mile long island. Just off the western tip, between it and Tierra del Fuego is the Straits of Le Maire, and its forecast to be blowing 85 knots through the strait. I had better stay away from that end of the island! I am just sitting with 4 reefs in the main with the storm jib ready to go if needed.  The plan is to have the strong northerlies 00-03z, then as the low centre passes just to the south the wind will become variable, hopefully light, until 1500 tomorrow when the new SW wind first approaches. At this point I am due to move off, around the East end of the island (not via the Le Maire strait!) and start heading north, with rapidly increasing SW winds propelling me northwards. It won’t be champagne sailing but it will be fast and similar to the Southern Ocean sailing we have been doing for the last month.  It’s a shame to see your competitors ahead getting away further, but this is a game played with Mother Nature, and sometimes we are too small to play her games, and have to wait our turn till she has had her fun. It does not happen very often, but there are cases where the winds are just too powerful for yachts, like in the Route du Rhum 2002 which created carnage for the Multihull fleet and of course the famous Fastnet and Sydney Hobart storms."
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily log
 

"A nervous anticipation is in the air for the sailors, the boats and the race direction as well as all of you watching at home, I am sure. After spending 38 days in the southern Ocean, Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn, all celebrations go on hold as we await a storm hurtling towards us from the Pacific. Strategy to avoid the worst of the weather has been discussed by the skippers involved, the race direction and Meteo France. Thankfully we all agreed on the same course of action. The aim is to hang out around Cape Horn and the centre of the low will pass overhead, then we will experience south east to south west strong winds as we get the cold feel of the west of the low as it tracks east. Slowly with much reduced sail we can follow it from about tomorrow afternoon hoping for it to move ahead of us. This should hopefully see us miss the worst of the weather. I am currently 30 miles off the Chilean coast seeing glaciers and mountains reaching into the sky. It really is an awesome sight. I am being heading quite dramatically at the moment, which may be a sign of things moving a little faster than expected. I went on deck to trim the sails to upwind and saw numerous dolphins playing around the bow. I haven't seen that sight since the Atlantic so it must be a good sign! With taffeta ribbons streaming from my mainsail, it will be relieved to go into 4 reefs for a rest. I just need to be extra careful with the fibres so they do not get damaged in the blow coming. All being well I should be through the worst of it all late tomorrow night. In the mean time it will be a testing twenty four hours, then we can celebrate Cape Horn."
Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message