The Vendée Globe leaders are expected to have to deal with a period of very strong winds as they dip down the Fifties for the final 1000-1500 miles of the Pacific to Cape Horn.
Forecasts suggest that the top five boats will get gusts to 55 knots and seas between seven and nine metres, the first big storm this year.
Roland Jourdain echoed the sentiment of all of the top placed skippers when he said that the key priority at the present time is to keep everything in one piece before Cape Horn, rather than pressing to make small gains on this drag race to the final big left turn.
For the rest of the fleet the weather is generally more favourable. Sam Davies and Marc Guillemot are negotiating the SW Pacific gate, Dee Caffari and Arnaud Boissieres have left the New Zealand gate.
Jonny Malbon reported this morning that his mainsail problem is becoming more serious, tearing a vertical hole of more than one metre in the decaying laminate.
