Dear All,

We, sailors, are not only good looking amiable persons (cf pictures in another message), but we are also extremely sensitive. Tonight, we are going to touch a very difficult issue that is not easy to discuss outside the core of our crew. Please never ever hint at the fact that we are at the b..k of the fleet. Please just refer to us as the boat that is not quite in front.

Reality can be harsh and ¾ of the crew are currently taking heavy doses of Prozac while the skipper/owner/manager is being artificially kept under the illusion that he is leading the fleet.

How did we get to that situation? First of all, we have gathered conclusive evidence that the boat has been bugged while in Las Palmas and that our key competitors have been made aware of our winning strategy. Some of our messages have been intercepted and we are now starting counter measures, such as only using coded words and expressions to talk to one another. Without telling you all about it, if I say I have fished the second tuna of the day, it clearly does not mean that we have been successful at fishing (another difficult subject on board on which we may have to revert), but it means that we should go 2 degrees further West. If Philippe says he is not hungry tonight, this cannot EVER be taken at first degree : Philippe means he wants to hoist the spinnaker. If Matthieu refers to the reliability of the generator, he means he wants to stop the boat to have a swim (remember that he thinks we are leading). If Come mentions that he did not buy enough food, unfortunately this is not a code!

News from the wine cellar: still no access but the Port watch has now reached full control  of the rum rations and we had a good go at them tonight. We, sailors, are a funny bunch.

News, miscellaneous: we have been hit by a torpedo while having an otherwise very nice and quiet dinner. The missile had a direct hit at the cockpit, centimeters away from  Come and Phillippe’s heads. Once natural fear was overcome, the missile was identified as a fine flying fish of circa 10 cms. We, sailors, have a big heart, so we gave him back his freedom, at least for now!

To be continued

From the sailors to their sirens, have a beautiful night.