100th day at sea

Jean-Luc van den Heede crosses the Greenwich meridian

Day 100 Position at 1300: 11°42S / 1°01W
Wind 20 knots from SE. Slight sea.
Temperatures: day 22°C/ night 14°C/ sea 23°C
Distance covered in the last 24 hours: 219 miles.
To the finish: 4,734 miles.
Lead over P.Monnet 26 days and 6 hours.

Hi there,

100 days at sea today! Time is slipping by quickly if you look at it one way, but slowly from a different angle. Quickly, because 100 days of being alone seems to be a lot, yet on the other hand I get the feeling it wasn't that long ago that I left. Slowly, because the days all seem the same, especially in the trade winds, with their routine of setting the sails, meals, communications, odd jobs and reading.

The trade winds are finally waking up and since yesterday, I've had some good winds. In the morning, I put away the pole and genoa, and raise the spinnaker, which I keep an eye on all day long, adjusting my course as required. At nightfall, the wind changes are so great that I lower the spinny to be on the safe side, and I push back up my genoa, which allows me to sleep without being so stressed out.

It's amazing how it hasn't been that warm in this latitude, seeing it's the middle of Summer in the southern Hemisphere. Usually, I'm simply boiling down here, with curtains pulled across the portholes on the sunny side, and with the heat making me sweat heavily with the slightest effort on deck. It's not like that at all this year. During the day, it's been nice, but not excessively hot, then at night I'm still putting on my light fleece. The planet is supposed to be getting warmer...but that's certainly not the case down here this year!

See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

A weekend spent with Améthyste's cuddly toy, a little sandy-coloured bear that was given to her by her godfather, Karl.