Vendee Globe sailor Sam Davies has brought new meaning to the phrase 'bikini line' : it is the latitude at which lone sailors can strip off and get a tan!

Here is her log for Day 11 onboard Roxy, her Open 60, in the Vendée Globe non-stop, solo, round-the-world-race

'Hello everyone!! At last the sun is really shining so I have got my Roxy bikini out!! The trouble is I'm a bit white so I'm piling on the sun cream to protect my skin, and trying to stay in the shade.

Last night I slept a LOT! In fact, I forgot to set the sound part of my alarm clock, so instead of a one hour sleep, I woke up five hours later, feeling a bit lost and confused, but extremely refreshed! The reason I slept so well was also that Roxy was slipping along so nicely under spinnaker that her gentle purring helped me sleep. If ever she slows down or something changes, I wake up by the change of noise or motion.

This time, the wake up was due to the wind lifting us; Roxy was saying she was no longer happy and perhaps this was a good opportunity to get further west. I agreed, so we gybed across, passing in front of the little red and green navigation lights of Pindar.

Now, back on Port gybe and heading directly into the Doldrums, we are still slipping along nicely under the beautiful Roxy spinnaker. Sam X'
Yachting Monthly, 20 November 2008