Vendee Globe sailor Rich Wilson, sailing his Open 60 Great American III has suffered a head wound after being pitched from his bunk and landing on his face, the latest victim in the non-stop, solo, round-the-world race.

Here is his report:

‘Well it was inevitable, the being thrown from the bunk, finally happened last night, and I had a one point landing on my left eyebrow after a fall of 1.5 meters with my head leading the way. Coming out of the bunk and through the opening in the bulkhead is as if your body is funnelled so that your head lands first. I’d had several good naps, this was the third, I awoke either in flight or on impact, scrambled to get up, onto the chart table bench, felt my head, no bumps, forehead, no bumps, then felt that it hurt just above my eye, felt there, not damp nor wet but soaked in blood, the whole left side of my face was dripping blood.

‘On the floor, on my down booties, on my sea boots, went to the mirror, what a mess, didn’t know what was underneath all that blood, took paper towels and cold water and started to gently mop up, and gradually got down to the core problem, a cut under the eyebrow about 1″ (2.5cm) long. I tried to see if there was anything in it, but couldn’t. Eventually got it to stop bleeding, then let it scab a bit, cut and put a bandage over it. A black eye is coming. We checked for double vision, after all my whole head took a real hit, no problem with the vision, that’s good.

‘Another gale is en route, this one looks severe, will try to get organized for it early, we’ve had a wind shift already, totally “unforecast” on grib files, so don’t know what the future here holds.’