Ellen Update–Slip, Sliding Away: Le Petit Anglais’ fourteen hour lead on Francis Joyon at the Equator has been whittled down to just over 12 hours, with more pain to come. Click here for the latest daily report. And here for the latest 3D animation comparing B&Q’s course to Joyon’s IDEC. Up ahead, the weather gods do not look as if they will give Ellen a free pass to the Southern Ocean (here’s the analysis), so she is resigning herself to losing a pile of time to Joyon, who waltzed right through this area.

If you are wondering how Ellen is staying healthy through all this, her sports nutritionist is happy to summarize the nutrition situation:

“Physically and mentally Ellen is pushing herself to her limits. Her body is flooded with stress hormones that mobilise her fuel stores (fat and muscle), dampen her appetite, reduce gastric secretions and direct blood away from the gut. Stress hormones provide the body with all it needs for shorts bursts of powerful energy, whilst also ensuring a full gut doesn’t make a quick power burst impossible. Whilst these hormones may be lifesaving in the very short-term, over longer periods of time they can weaken the body and seriously impair performance. It is important to combat some of the effects of these hormones, such as the reduced appetite, so that Ellen will remain strong throughout her challenge.”

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? And the hard part has not even started yet…



“Damn, I’m slowing down. Better strip to my underwear again…”