“Sailing away from France discouragingly, trying to get to the other side of this massive low that is forecast to envelope the entire southwest south Atlantic. Tacked last night to head for the oncoming trough. Had it calibrated well I thought with input from both gfs grib and ec grib files and noaa from the us. The only map disagreeing was Météo France, which of course turned out to be right, or at least I think, since I've gone 100 miles past where the grib files said the trough would be, up to 6 hours from when it was supposed to be there, and I'm still going west. Now the wind has dropped from the 35-45 knots that we had, with 18-21' breaking seas that built out of nowhere, and we had storm jib and 3 reefs in the main, and when it got to 50 knots of wind, and the boat is going 20 knots down the seas, I could not decide whether it was more risky to try to lower the mainsail in 50 knots of wind, or to let the boat continue at 20 knots.
This kind of sailing is frightening. And it wears on your nerves. Particularly when all the data is wrong. Luckily, I can get the storm jib up quickly, and we have a good system for that with a deck bag. The storm jib has been lashed on deck since we sailed past South Africa. I think that I have had it up probably 15 or 16 times. And have had the mainsail down entirely, at least twice, maybe 3 times. I have been struck by how stunningly accurate the grib files have been for barographic pressure, but not at all for wind direction or velocity, and it only took a little bit of time this morning to match up our barograph and the grib files to see that they were off in ways that they haven't been, so something was definitely wrong. The real challenge in these situations is the internal decision-making and self-doubt. Should I take the main down, or not? When does that staysail get rolled and the storm jib go up? Should we run off with these huge seas and prodigious speed and risk burying the bow and worse, or should we try to jog upwind a bit at very slow speeds, without the mainsail? Who knows what the right answer is?”
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

“The worst day in the world onboard Aviva. Stuck in the doldrums for what feels like an eternity helpless as we watch the others sail away. Almost as if they took all the wind with them and forgot to leave me any.

“Top wind speed - 4 knots
Lowest wind speed - 1.2 knots
Average wind speed - 2.5 knots
Top boat speed - 5 knots
Lowest boat speed - 0 knots
Average boat speed - 2 knots

“Time helming - 10 hours
Time carrying out maneuvers - 10 hours
Time sleeping - 1 hour
Time worrying - 3 hours

“Frustration level - high
Enjoyment level - low
Happiness level onboard - rock bottom

“Time spent travelling in the right direction - almost zero! It can only get better because it can't possibly get any worse.”

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message
 

PRB has been loaded onto the Russian cargo vessel Peter Rönna. The operation began at 1000 GMT this morning in ideal weather conditions. There was no wind. The skies were cloudy, but there was no rain. PRB’s shore team had been out there for twelve days or so and were able to coordinate the procedures, with the main difficulty being the language barrier.  The monohull is ready for a voyage, which is due to last about 25 days. The Peter Rönna left Ushuaïa at 1600 GMT. It will be stopping at Santos in Brazil before heading for Lorient in Brittany, where PRB will be unloaded.

Tomorrow among the crowds turning out to welcome Michel Desjoyeaux , there will be some of the skippers, who were forced to retire from the race: Vincent Riou, Jean le Cam, Dominique Wavre, Jérémie Beyou, Kito de Pavant, Sébastien Josse et Bernard Stamm. Some will be out on the water, while others have been invited along as expert commentators by the French media.

Based on the Great Circle route, the Race Directors have calculated that the total distance for the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe is 24,840 miles. However, Michel Desjoyeaux, and indeed all the other competitors, will have covered hundreds of miles more than this, as they have had to adapt their route to the weather conditions.

“Last night really heavy weather conditions started. I don’t know why, the weather report was not so bad but the sea is tricky and at 0400 LT in the morning a squall hit Nauticsport Kapsch very hard. Before I could be on deck the boom came back and the lazy jack broke. In the end it was a dangerous situation while Nauticsport Kapsch ran across the waves and I had to control the sails again. The wind was so strong that I was not able to bring the boat back on course for a few minutes. It seemed like hours to me. Then the squall became less strong for a few seconds and I was able to bring the boat back on course and furl the GE1 to the last 50 centimetres, just before the sail was furled completely the furling line broke. In the end I was lucky that nothing more happened than a broken cable and a broken block and I had to fight for 1 hour and I also hope that this was the last "present" the Southern Ocean gives to me! Right now, at 1400 UTC the weather is very rough, and the sea is really confused. It`s raining, but the wind is not too strong and the track is good. Now I will have some nice Chinese noodles and rest a little bit. After that things look better again!”
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message