With gales forecast and an even larger gennaker up than the one that was damaged last night, PlayStation is in for more excitement as she heads south down the western shores of the British Isles.

In a mini-M telephone conversation this morning, Steve Fossett elaborated on the excellent conditions (for now) as the big cat surges towards its waypoint at the island of Sula Sgeir (Gaelic for ‘Gannet Rock’ – uninhabited – apart from 30,000 gannets – 12 miles west of Rona in the Western Isles) in north-easterly winds of 22-27kts.

‘The Solent headsail is now repaired, but now we’ve changed to the even larger gennaker. This is actually desirable for our downwind sailing, so we should be very fast for the next two days.

‘Today’s forecast shows good winds until Thursday, but then there are possible headwinds to slow us up when we reach the English Channel. We’re hoping this outlook will improve in tomorrow’s forecast – just say I prefer yesterday’s forecast!’