0745 utc 48/38S 178/28E 12.5kts boatspeed @074T, staysail, 2 reefs, 25 knots wind NW, moderate seas. Distance covered in last 24  hours: 258.9 nautical miles.

We came a bit more north than the direct route in anticipation of a wind shift to the north. We’re making a slowly arcing route toward the west end of the New Zealand ice gate. We sailed off the Campbell Plateau into deeper waters. Think I could see a difference, but the wind was also coming down at the same time. Now we’re back up on another shallow plateau, the Bounty Platform, which has the Bounty Islands in the middle. These must be from Capt. William Bligh’s Bounty, and the epic Mutiny. Will have to research. To the south of us is another small group of islands, the Antipodes. These are at 50deg South/180min East, so almost exactly opposite Greenwich in England, which is at about 51deg North on the Prime Meridien (0deg Longitude). Interesting waters.

Albatross about all day. Spoke with Jonny as he headed north toward the lee of the South Island of New Zealand. He was in as good spirits as one could be, having had to make his difficult decision. He’ll be back next time and be a contender. Good on you Jonny.

Received nice email from Sam Davies on Roxy, understanding that I’d lost my running mate, as she is also sailing far from the next boat, she sent “virtual’ company. She is doing a spectacular job in this race, just awe inspiring.

Bailed 5 buckets from the forward 4 compartments. Noticed that the dead end for the tack reef lines in the mainsail gave a bad lead for #3, so moved the ends to a new location. The reef line was going across a batten car and loading it sideways. Glad I caught that one, but should have caught it a long time ago.

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is around Cape Horn. I’m speechless.

With the icegates in different places, Vendee Globe 2008 is 24,840 nautical miles (nm) officially, whereas Vendee Globe 2004 was 23680 nm officially. Numbers from the Race Office. So we’re about +5% from last time.