Geronimo Battles Light Airs

The crew then hope to pick up the northern edge of the low pressure area and catch its westerly winds.

As they wait, the crew have continued to use the calms to overhaul the entire boat as she runs at reduced speed.

"Flat calm and the wind right behind us: we're a long way from the galloping return leg we had on Sport Elec or even on Lyonnaise des Eaux. We've given the mast a major check-up and changed the lashings and the main track travellers. We've also made the most of our situation to seal the dagger board housing, turn the halyards and sheets and dismantle the winch heads, as well as refitting our navigation lights and turning off our transmitters to wipe the data, etc." says Olivier de Kersauson.

The small sea bird rescued by the crew last Friday has now flown away. "He perked up once we got him on board. We fed him some fish and he must be the only bird around here to have tasted olive oil. We were happy and proud of the care we were able to give him and although it wasn't much, it was done with great care and affection. Nevertheless, it's amazing. He was with us for about 30 hours and didn't even try to fly inside the boat. He'd clearly recovered and now he's gone. Everyone was pleased to see him fly off so strongly, because he wasn't too hot when we found him", reports the skipper.