Anne Liardet co-skipper with British sailor Peter Harding, aboard the Owen Clark-designed Class 40, 40 Degrees, is now lying in second place in the Transat Jacques Vabre, just over 27 miles off the leader, Telecom Italia. Reporting this morning from the boat Liardet explained the situation from the front of the fleet:

“Another long day ahead after a long night? so there we are in a rather uncomfortable but satisfying position. The other day, I mentioned throwing the weather files in the bin and straight-lining it. Well that’s what we did, except that I nearly got caught out wavering like a beginner: stay with the bulk of the fleet? so we did put some westing in until we ran into unstable breeze – the way out of here is south, and so south we went. Conclusion: 40 Degrees is a fine boat because I don’t know whether it is her speed which makes me seem intelligent, but at least she lets me get out of jail from semi-mistakes.

“On another subject, we are making the most of the last half hour of cool air, because the sun is about to rise from behind the clouds on the horizon; in fact it looks to me like trade wind skies? to date I have seen only one flying fish and that was three days ago – having studied the shape of the deck, I have concluded that it’s not good for fish-catching, so think we will have to do without fresh fish.

“However, we have another problem – the water in the tanks is almost undrinkable. The tanks have been treated with an antibacterial agent and there is probably residue. We have been using the water to rehydrate food, and drink ‘special taste’ tea, but it’s almost undrinkable even with squash in it, not to mention probably not so good for you in the long term. At least we will be able to wash with it. So we have 70 litres of drinking water left, which should be enough added to the rain we will get in the Doldrums.”