On Saturday I decided to change my course to stay with Jean-Pierre Dick, just until I knew that he was happy with the boat and had made his decision about what to.

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.

Really hot and humid inside the boat today but better than the freezing conditions at home!

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.

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.

Today is another day of DIY. Hydrogenerator problems still plague me but I feel as though I am getting closer to the root of the problem and so hopefully I will get there finally.

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.

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 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.