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!

t is bitterly cold down here now, and I have several layers on even when in my sleeping bag. I have a heater onboard but it burns diesel so whilst I am in power saving mode and conserving fuel, using the heater is a no go therefore it is like some sort of torture having all the capabilities of making heat but not being able to use it.

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'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.

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.

Live streaming the start of the Vendée Globe on the 10/11/12; starting at 9:00 am (French local time) 8am (GMT) with the leaving of the boats from the harbour and the real start of the race at 01:02 pm (French local time) and 12.02pm (GMT)