The conditions were so gusty a few hours ago that I couldn't even eat. There were 28 knots of wind in the Suqalls. That was a bit difficult. At the moment it's still around 20 knots. I'm travelling with a full main again. The temperature is around six or seven degrees. I can see the stars and it's pretty cold. When it was still light where I was, we had snow and hail. That gave me a nice Christmas feeling!
Vendée Globe: Capsized, sailed on, advanced
I still have ballast in the back of the boat because otherwise it sometimes dives into the waves. I can't see the waves at the moment, but I think the wave height is around three metres. During the day it was up to five metres here. Everything is okay with the boat. The foil box repair is also holding. The foil is now fixed at 3.2 degrees. I had already reported on my pirouette (Editor: "Malizia - Seaexplorer" had capsized, but Boris Herrmann was able to right the boat quickly and sail on):
"A pirouette in the middle of the night. Luckily it was already light in the morning so I could see what happened. I was sitting in my seat when the boat nose-dived into a wave and tilted sharply downwards. I thought, 'Oh, this isn't normal.' I almost lost control of the oars and was travelling into the wind. By the time I was in the cockpit, I was fully into the wind, with the headsails flapping, my hand on the tiller, trying to figure out where to put it.
Am I driving backwards? Then I have to do it in one direction. Am I driving forwards? Then in the other direction. It's not easy to figure this out in a fraction of a second. I didn't get it right, so the boat tacked and the big gennaker was turned back against the mast. The keel was on the wrong side. Suddenly I was on the side of the boat - the boat capsized.
I definitely don't want to do another pirouette, neither tonight nor at any other time during the race." Boris Herrmann
Then came the tricky part: getting the boat into the wind while protecting the mast by steering the sails and not letting them flap too much. Otherwise the sheets get tangled up everywhere and I managed to get the rudders under control. Then you have to gybe, trim everything back and get back on course. I've just done that. Now I'm back on the right course. Over the next few hours I'm going to slow down a bit to get out of this zone with a really complicated swell."
Match race duel at the Vendée Globe
I'm currently back next to Yannick Bestaven. The encounters with him here in the Southern Ocean near Point Nemo are exceptional! The chances of meeting so close are normally so rare in the vastness here! Now we're matching up again. We push each other a bit, which is why the radar beeps so loudly. Matching with Yannick is fun!
I realise that I'm trying even harder to be on my toes here." Boris Herrmann
My latest routings tell me that there are still about six days to Cape Horn. I could be there on the evening of 27 December or on 28 December. The leaders will reach Cape Horn by Christmas. I'm pretty sure that the eight-year-old Vendée Globe record will fall during this edition.
In addition to the Cape Horn milestone, there are many small mental milestones that I set myself: To get to the next corner of the ice gate, to the next time zone, then in the Atlantic to the equator, to get into the warmth, to get into the trade winds. And, of course, to advance as far as possible.
Boris Herrmann's bright Christmas jumper
I'm not really a big Christmas person. But I will call home on Christmas Eve and see what the family is doing via video call and just be there for a bit. And I'll also be unwrapping the presents I have on board. I also have a little surprise... I've often been asked about the red Christmas jumper from my first Vendée Globe. I couldn't find it anymore. But I have the same one in light colour. This is the one from the Ocean Race.
A special encounter in the Southern Ocean - Boris Herrmann took seventh place here on the evening of 21 December, for which he continues to battle with defending champion Yannick Bestaven as he advances through the top ten:
