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"The squalls are travelling at over 60 knots the sea is strong and wild, with waves making 30 knots. It's virtually impossible to get anywhere in this sea - it's an incredible boat breaker" reports the skipper.

Under 3-reefed main and staysail, the trimaran is struggling hard to keep her bows out of this grasping sea and is already considering how best to position herself for the attack on the Pacific. The crew tried shaking out one reef to match the boat's power to the speed of the waves, but in one squall earlier today, the trimaran peaked at over 40 knots in a very broken sea. There was little choice but to take the reef again and curb Geronimo's speed once more. At these speeds, the sea becomes almost unsailable and the risk of serious failure rises to too dangerous a level. On the advice of their router and weather guru, the crew will not venture further south than the 47th parallel, where the sea is completely chaotic. "Further south than that and we'd be massacred" says Olivier de Kersauson.

Several thousand kilometres of high winds still await Geronimo.The two low pressure systems that triggered the current sea state will cause the Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric crew many long and difficult days yet.

However, the weather forecasts stop short of the terrible, there are no equipment failures to report at present and everything continues to work well on board. The only thing for it is to "bribe Father Christmas to change the weather", as the skipper told his shore crew earlier this afternoon.

Geronimo's position at 15:00 GMT, Day 25

Latitude 45º15S

Longitude 107º45E

Average Speed over the last 12 hours 18.04 knots

Distance travelled in 12 hours 216 nautical miles