Geronimo is accumulating more weather problems during her Jules Verne Challenge – it’s almost as if she was frightening the wind away. The Trade Winds are feeble, still stuck in the north-east, and the trimaran has been forced to sail close-hauled for yet another day, still under staysail and full main.

The future holds out a faint hope that they will be able to break out the gennaker before the Equator, but still upwind. It’s like circling the world the ‘wrong’ way round. The sequence of weather was good as far as the antimeridian – the half way point – but since then, everything has come to a grinding halt and seems now to have gone into reverse. The crew is regretting the absence of Orange 2, whose presence would have added a little spice and interest in these light and unstable wind conditions.

All their stocks of adhesives, mastics and Sika sealants have been unpacked, including those in the survival containers, in an attempt to patch up the solent. After waiting the obligatory number of drying hours, the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric crew will try again tonight to hoist this large upwind sail which should give them a little more speed. A few precious knots gained this way could help them get away to the north and the real Trade Winds and away from the anticyclone that is also travelling in the same direction.

Day 49 position

24°54S – 39°53W

230 nautical miles in 24 hours, at an average speed of 9.6 knots

Distances to the Equator

Geronimo: 1,600 nautical miles

Orange: 2,120 nautical miles, i.e. 520 nautical miles behind Geronimo

Cheyenne: 571 nautical miles, i.e. 1,029 nautical miles ahead of Geronimo