Jean Luc Van Den Heede and his crewman Jean Marie Patier are currently battling out tough conditions in the Pacific. Having left Hobart on 4 March with a temporary galvanised mast, built from three fire hydrant pipes, the duo are heading back to France by the way of Cape Horn.

Jean Marie commented from the boat: “These last two days I’ve lived through a baptism of fire in the Pacific: 50 knots of wind, with gusts of 60… It’s a grandiose and impressive sight especially when you have to lower the solent and set the staysail! “As we no longer have roller reefing, we have to go forward which is still difficult for the amateur that I am. We have entered an area where we must be even more vigilant. Surprisingly for the moment we haven’t seen any icebergs. We are not complaining!

“The water temperature is 6°C and we have put on our cold weather gear which unfortunately doesn’t protect us from the spray which hits us the moment we poke our noses outside.”