2 étapes importantes Après 85 jours de course, les bateaux et les skippers commencent à être fatigués. Avec l’arrivée de 3 bateaux de plus aux Sables d’Olonne, rester concentrer devient encore plus difficile. Conrad est repassé sur sa trace de l’aller vendredi, marquant la réalisation de son 3e tour du monde! Aujourd’hui, à 8.42 UTC il a franchi à nouveau l’Equateur. L’entrée dans l’Atlantique Nord est une belle étape de franchie. Avec 87% de la course déjà réalisés, ça sent

2 important milestones After 85 days of racing, boats and skippers are starting to be tired. With the arrival of 3 more boats in Les Sables d’Olonne, it’s a mind game to stay focused. Conrad passed over his outward track on Friday, closing the loop on his third circumnavigation. Now today at 08.42 UTC at 30 deg 35W he crossed the Equator. Entering the North Atlantic is for sure an important milestone. With 87% of the race now completed, home feels just around the corner and

Finally the winds have turned and strengthened so that my problematically unballanced sail setup of the small jib (I had to furl the Code 0 but it will reappear shortly) and full main can be used to full effect. Since yesterday I have been charging up the coast with great speed and as such the milestones of Salvador de Bahia and Recife (the corner of Brazil) have fallen in my wake. I refer to Salvador as a milestone because when I started solo sailing in 2009 I capped the s

The doldrums at the equator are known for wide swaths of calm and raging rain squalls that can spin the wind around the clock and have you chasing your tail like a confused dog. I'm still along way from the actual doldrums but I feel like I'm getting a good warm up. First I had the calms and now the squalls. Since sun down yesterday I have been sailing upwind against a constant deluge of isolated black storm clouds and their associated rains and wind shifts. I haven't slept m

THE question Last Thursday, Armel Le Cléac’h took first place in the 8th edition of the Vendée Globe and British sailor Alex Thomson taking 2nd place after an epic battle. Now that the 2 first boats have arrived, the question we hear the most is « When do you think Conrad will hit the dock/ ? ».And that is the one question that drives the Kiwi skipper a bit crazy. With more than 4 500 miles to go and weather files that change rapidly, it is impossible to have a accurate estim

The temperature is certainly changing as I head northwards, not so surprisingly becoming hot and steamy as I approach the Brazilian coast in summer time. There was about 24 hours when I was comfortable in base layers and shorts but now the meter set to full boil and I'm melting. The Vendee globe is unique in many respects, but this wild swings in temperature are certainly part of the charm. The Iditarod husky sleigh race in Alaska or the Death Valley ultra marathon both deal

Thank you for your warm wishes and hearty breaths. It appears to have done the trick as I am making decent progress given the conditions and am currently 60 miles ahead of my where my routing suggested I would be. Yesterday's frustration appears in retrospect to have been rather mellow dramatic but I feared that I would be imprisoned forever in a shaking and shivering, brain rattling "calm"! Last night put it all into perspective as I glided over a now calm sea under a clea

Je suis scotché! Alors que je profitais hier de conditions idéales pour filer vers le Nord, les fichiers météo du jour m'annoncent du vent qui n'est pour l'instant pas au rendez-vous. J'avais mis du temps à décider si j'allais tout de suite à l'Est ou si j'attendais le passage de la grosse dépression pour y aller. J'ai choisi la seconde option et elle est loin d'être facile à vivre pour l'instant! Malheureusement, je vais galérer pendant plusieurs jours comme ça et c'est vrai

I'm stuck! Just as yesterday I enjoyed an unexpected good run with ideal conditions to make miles northwards, now the weather files have turned against me and I have a lot less wind than expected. I had agonized for days about whether finding a way east early (but that put in even more squarely in the path of over 40 knots of wind, to be avoided) or make gains northwards with an escape route to the east later. Sadly it looks like I am going to struggle for a few days here w

I have been pretty busy these last couple of days dealing with problems in my little corner of the world and now as I take up the keyboard again it's hard to know where to start. Firstly, congratulations to Armel and Alex for an incredible race. They have been pushing and trying to out fox each other in a personal grudge match since they made a break for it South Atlantic on the way down. Two of the fastest boats in the fleet helmed by two of the most experienced skippers (