Approaching Cape Leeuwin

Slow progress at present for Jean-Luc van den Heede

Day 67.
Position at 1300: 44°56'S / 123°08'E
Wind 25 knots from WSW, moderate sea.
Temperatures: day 14°C / night 7°C / sea 10°C
Distance covered in the last 24 h: 213 miles.
To the Cape of Good Hope 4,860 miles.
Lead over Monnet 18 days and 8 hours.

Hello

Yesterday, I managed to sail on the beam for twelve hours, which enabled me to make some headway west. Since then, I've been on the port tack towards the north west. The night was rough with gusts up to 50 knots. In this situation, Adrien only has out the little Celerant staysail and the tip of the mainsail with three reefs.

The wind is starting to abate now, and I'm gradually putting back out the sails. I think I'll be reaching the longitude of Cape Leeuwin, the southwesterly tip of Australia on Thursday. Philippe Monnet, was reaching the antipodal meridian on what will be tomorrow. Then, he headed far north in the Indian Ocean to get some favourable winds to the north of the high pressure area. That was maybe a good solution, because for a few days I haven't been gaining any more over him.

Following my ecologoical speech yesterday, an internaut asked me what I do with my rubbish. Everything which isn't biodegradable is kept on board, so I already have five big rubbish bags full. The sea down here doesn't see many visitors and so is still a clean place that I'd be ashamed to pollute.

See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

A day with the cuddly toy from Mr Christian Malherbe's class at the IME Fontaine Bouillant