Jean Luc Van Den Heede and his crewman Jean Marie Patier who’ve been sailing their boat Adrien back from Hobart with a make shift rig have reached the northern hemisphere after more than five months in the south. Van Den Heede commented: “I am absolutely delighted to have got this far with my stand-in spaghetti rig. For the last couple of days we have been in the doldrums and thank goodness I’ve got my Volvo motors and a large quantity of diesel.”

They are currently at a position of 5°5’n, 29°16’w just off the coast of Brazil heading north to Sables d’Olonne via the Azores and seem to be enjoying the squalls which come as a welcome relief from the high equatorial temperatures. Van Den Heede continues: “From time to time a squall gives us a chance to have a shower even though it’s annoying to get covered in soap without having time to rinse it off… in the same squall. We ought to find a bit of wind soon to start on our long trip back northwards under sail, otherwise our fuel will run low!”

Although it is still too early to predict Adrien’s exact time of arrival in France, Van Den Heede anticipates it’ll be between 16-22 May, obviously depending on the wind.