Click here for Alex Thomson's exclusive videocast, part 9

Latitude: 47 06.74’ S

Longitude: 126 31.20’ E

Position: Second

Average speed: 15.6 knots

All is well on the good ship, Hugo Boss and Capey [Andrew Cape, Alex's co-skipper] and I are enjoying the milder conditions that could almost be described as tropical compared to ten days ago. We had a great last few days racing and got to within 11 nautical miles of the leader, Paprec Virbac, yesterday. The breeze has been pretty gusty over the past 12 to 24 hours, which makes life a little harder, but we have sailed quite conservatively and limited our risk. The problem with gusty conditions is that you are caught in a catch-22 situation, where you need to put up less sail than you would usually to cope with the gusts, which leaves you slightly underpowered in between gusts. Our strategy though is one of conservatism, so we are happy to be a little underpowered at times.

Life onboard is quite civilized at present and both Capey and I are fairly well slept and fed. After a successful few days, we treated ourselves yesterday to a bag of freeze-dried burger and beans. The climate is a little friendlier now with the sea temperature up to about 10 degrees. We are looking forward to getting out of the Southern Ocean and the weather should improve further as we start to head north towards the Cook Straits.

Life hasn’t been all fun and games, as we have had a few bits of maintenance to be getting on with. A few of our sails have been damaged, but we have plenty of spares and repair kits, so nothing too major. We are also still having a problem with the exhaust on the engine, which we need to charge the batteries with. At some point near the beginning of the race, one of the seals ripped and as a result the exhaust fumes have been leaking into the cabin. Although this is not ideal, it is not something that is affecting our performance.

The plan for the next few days and over Christmas, is very much the same. We are not going to push particularly hard, so as to ensure that we don’t break anything. Hugo Boss is still a very new boat and, although we have discovered a lot about her so far, we have much more to learn. The weather will stay pretty gusty until the next few low pressure systems arrive. We will try to stay to the north of these depressions, which will hopefully give us continued downwind sailing. Having said that, we are working from forecast, so although we can prepare for one thing, you never know quite what the weather gods will do. Capey and I are thinking of you all doing your last-minute Christmas shopping as we enjoy the simplicities of life at sea!