We have had a busy night with finally some 'almost trade winds' starting to push the fleet along. We gybed several times in the night and as a lot of you know, we have to shift the stack (sails and equipment weighing 1.5 tons) from side to side so it was a little disruptive of our bunk times.

This morning I watched Phil Jameson have his porridge with a lot of Tabasco hot sauce. This was a first for me in 4 Volvo's. I commented to him at the time about sending him back to his wife in Cape Town with strange new habits when I realised I had just eaten a pack of 2 minute noodles - dry. Arh!!! Also a first!

Sleep deprivation. It's got to be good for you. Currently my watch mate Horacio (Carabelli) is colouring in Phil's nails while he is asleep (pics to come). Enough, back to my bunk.

Cheers,
Tony Mutter - trimmer.

MCM's Note: Yes Horacio has definitely coloured Phil's fingernails in with a black permanent marker pen - knowing his victim as I do, I sense that the 'tomfoolery' wars may have just started. Could be an interesting equator crossing! I'll probably wake up tomorrow with a black moustache and glasses, but won't know as we don't have a mirror - Just hope the moustache is either a nice twirly (1920s bad guy style) or a big bushy one!

All well - for now.
Guy Salter - MCM

Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news!

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008 with in-port racing, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race.

Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.