"Solent to staysail to storm jib, one reef to two reefs to three reefs, 35 knots of wind, ne, heading 335T, 8 knots, need I say more? Boat pounding itself badly. This all to get north into the high to wrap around and go to France. France right now is perpendicular to our course. Upwind with 3
reefs and the storm jib, so what else is new?"
Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his daily message
 

After setting sail from Ushuaïa on 31st January on board the Russian cargo vessel Peter Rönna, Vincent Riou's monohull will be back in Brittany tomorrow. She is due to be unloaded tomorrow evening at around 20h. From first light the next day, PRB's shore team will take her from Lorient around to Port La Forêt, which should take around 6 hours, as the voyage is around thirty miles. Late on Sunday morning, PRB should be back in her home base, where she will undergo a minor refit next week.

At 22.00hr GMT yesterday Derek Hatfield departed Hobart, Tasmania on the reconditioned IMOCA 60 Algimouss Spirit of Canada. The Canadian, forced to retire from the Vendée Globe because of damage to his spreaders, is determined to sail his boat back to the North Atlantic.

Harry McGougan has joined Mike Golding as Technical Team Manager/Boat Captain. He joins the team after working alongside Alex Thomson for the past two editions of the Vendee Globe. He will immediately set to work on the minor refit that is planned for Ecover 3 in Gosport. A few small modifications will be made and she will be given a new paint job before being relaunched. The replacement mast, which is currently stored at JMV in Cherbourg will arrive in Gosport on the 5th March. Meanwhile Ecover 3’s carbon keel has just arrived at JMV and is currently being surveyed. It did not actually fail, but there are cracks appearing on the keel head which need to be explored fully. On completion of the work the yacht will be launched and fully sail tested to ensure that rig, keel and all modifications are in order.

"The wind is more on the beam now, but we're still slamming. For four or five days now, we've really been hammering into the waves, making this stretch particularly tricky. I'm looking forward to getting away from this area, as it's hard on the boat and tough for me mentally. At least we're moving, so I mustn't grumble too much. When I came out of the Doldrums, I was faced with a northerly wind, so had to head off westwards and now the wind has veered, I'm still heading into the wind as I come around. I'm waiting for the next lot of weather charts to see how I can deal with the Azores. The North Atlantic is not looking very simple as there's a high over the Bay of Biscay and another one to my north, which will offer lighter winds and there's another one arriving from the west quite some way north. So I'm going to have to weave my way between these systems by the look of things. I've never seen so many high pressure areas in the North Atlantic. My shore team is already getting ready, and if I manage to work my way around the Azores high, I'm expecting to finish around 14th-15th March. For the moment, I'm trying not to think about it too much and just making sure the boat is sailing well. I'm thinking a lot too about the Foundation and all the useful info we can get from this floating lab. I think that so far, this mission has gone well."
Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) on today's radio session
 

The first episode of a five part series on the Vendee Globe will be shown on the British TV channel, Channel 4 tomorrow morning at 07h30 GMT. The series concentrates on the British entrants and includes footage filmed by the sailors themselves, as well as the highlights of the race. Tomorrow's programme deals with the preparations by the British skippers. From next week, the programme takes up a regular slot on Channel Four on Saturday mornings at 07h30 GMT.