Major gale

As Jean-Luc van den Heede approaches international date line

Day 52 Position at 1300: 53°06 S 164°27 W
Wind: 45 knots from WNW. Heavy seas.
Temperatures: day 13°C / night 7°C / sea 7°C
Distance covered in the last 24h: 156 miles.
To the antemeridian 560 miles.
Lead over Monnet 13 days and 10h.

Hello

What a gale! For the first time, I'm sailing without a foresail with three reefs in the mainsail, waiting for the sea to calm.

For 12 hours now, the wind has been blowing at more than 40 knots, backing more and more to the west, and the seas have been heavy. So I'm waiting for the weather to move away and for things to ease off, advancing very slowly. Adrien is slamming down from time to time after rising up on the waves, but I can't do anything more about it!

In theory, in six hours time, I'll be able to ease back into things. Francis Joyon has come down to roughly the same latitude as me, and is crossing the antemeridian. So we're not very far from each other, and we'll do all we can to be able to get within sight of each other on Wednesday, in order to wish one another a happy new year and every success in our two events!

See you tomorrow with a little less wind!

JL VDH

A day with Ora Lague's prehistoric cuddly toy, which is blue all over with a big tooth.