Enough is enough, the keels need to be made of solid steel and last the life of the boat, before someone gets hurt.

I had my easiest doldrum crossing ever Saturday with only two big black clouds and a slight slow down.

I got my batteries up to 100% on Sunday for the first time since the Indian Ocean and filled up my water supply to the max. I celebrated with a shave just before I tacked, the first shave of the race, true to my word I shaved it into the style voted for by my fans on Facebook.

It has been a difficult month saving power but hopefully fingers crossed I won't have any more issues and can start running the boat normally again. I can't wait to make a load of water and get this beard off my face for one!

On Saturday morning I was in sight of the Falkland Islands, which is topical as I hear they have been in the news a lot this past week! From what I can see they're incredibly flat! Saturday was another sunny day, which is good, conditions are considerably better than they have been.

At 02.38GMT this morning I achieved a new milestone as I rounded Cape Horn, it is a huge achievement for me and the team behind me. This is the third time I have rounded Cape Horn, but the first on my own.

There are reports of a lot of ice around Cape Horn area so naturally I am also a little apprehensive about that, but the race committee provide us with positions of all icebergs within the area on a daily bases, so with this information I should be able to navigate my way past the Horn safely and back into the south Atlantic.

I've got a bit more used to the lack of contact now, but it's still hard not being able to speak to my family or stay connected to the world as much as I would like to.

At the moment it looks as though it's going to be a bit like this until we reach Cape Horn, which should be around the evening of the 3rd January, which while being tough on me also makes it difficult to find a good time to do any more work on my Hydro repairs.

I opened all my presents, some very practical, some as useful as a chocolate fireguard and most full of sugar. I don't have much sweet stuff onboard so am not used to the sugar rush which I am currently experiencing!

Although Christmas is just another day in the race it still is hard to be out here with limited contact. My wife Kate and son Oscar are in Sweden with her family this Christmas. I have gifts from them onboard and I was also prepared this year and bought all my presents in November but I am going to miss spending my son's second Christmas with him.

It is really rough out here. Very bumpy and really confused waves. I am trying not to go to fast at the moment as she starts to slam a bit.

I am currently sailing towards this low pressure system in westerly winds which will back to the south in half a day before eventually settling back to the west again. The southerly wind will be very cold and I have prepared all my winter clothes.

I'm currently in fourth place as I sail past the south of Australia. I've slowed down slightly today as the wind is light this morning and will continue to get lighter as I sail into what is left of the ex cyclone Claudia and line up for the next system which will arrive quickly.

I'm still without the use of one of HUGO BOSS's hydrogenerators, which means I'm in 'shut down' mode, turning on the power as little as possible in order to conserve as much as I can until I'm able to put the working hydro into use.

Firstly thank you all for the messages of support regarding my emergency repairs via Facebook and Twitter. I am downloading my emails a couple of times a day when I get the weather so I still get them all.

I am gutted to have lost so many miles but fortunate that the known damage is repairable and that I'm able to continue on my way.

After a hairy couple of days with really big gusts and strong winds, it has calmed down a lot now and the breeze is down considerably this morning. I just hope that it holds out long enough for me to get to the Eastern end of the ice gate.

I was surrounded by black clouds for much of the night last night, with wind from 10 to 30 knots and varying in direction by up to 50 degrees. I thou...

Today has been another day of hyrdogenerator repairs so far. I thought I had fixed it yesterday but it looks like there are still some issues and they are not charging meaning my communications are limited today as I try to conserve power.

It got light at 3am this morning, it was great to see some blue sky and the see the sun rising. Right now I have 15 knots of wind from the South West,...

As anticipated the change in the positions has come this morning as those boats which were further West picked up the weather front and increased their speeds to the East. I'm keeping up now, averaging around 20 knots and have come out pretty much where I expected.

The international web TV show, Vendée Globe LIVE, is broadcast LIVE from Montparnasse Station in the heart of Paris. The show follows the solo, non s...

On 10 November I embarked on one of the most gruelling sporting challenges in the world today - the solo round-the-world race, the Vendée Globe. The race has always been won by a Frenchman, but this year I hope to become the first Briton to win on board the 60ft monochrome yacht; HUGO BOSS.

It was another tricky night on board HUGO BOSS with black clouds circling the boat and disrupting the wind which was at times down to 6 knots and maxed out at 11 knots. This morning I have 12 knots of the wind and it seems a little more stable.