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"I'm not really in a hurry to get back on dry land, I'm sorry. However, I would like to finish, to achieve my goal, to increase my lead, so to arrive sooner, but psychologically, I'm doing fine. In any case, to do this, you have to like being at sea!" The former maths teacher is being very logical once again.

"The Doldrums are now just a bad memory. I had to stick it out for three days, becalmed with a record for being slow the day before yesterday (35 miles in 24 hours). The sails flapping around from left to right, the boom swinging from one side to the other, the automatic pilot going crazy sounding its alarm every so often, unable to understand what the boat was up to at all, as she just would not obey, due to the absence of any wind."said Jean Luc. They're really very strange these sailors, who cross the oceans looking for storms, and get very disappointed when they are stood up.

"I lost a lot of time over Philippe MONNET. While I did have 26 and a half days lead, in just a short while, I lost 2 and a half days. I'm going to try to win those hours back, but Philippe managed to head back up very quickly. The Doldrums were more generous to him than to me. But that's life. I can no longer hear the sails suffering, the water is slapping up against Adrien's hull once again, so everything is fine. I can see the latitudes slipping by, and I'm in a hurry now to pick up the NE trade winds, because, for the moment, it's not really that great with nor'westerlies. The mainsail and the genoa are both very damaged, but they will make it through the whole trip".

Questioned about his arrival time, Jean Luc confirmed that he plans to cross the finishing line during week 11, but probably late in the week. When we suggest 12 of March to him, he replies "I don't know, I forgot to bring a calendar for 2004 with me."

Adrien's positions are available on her website at the address below.