It is understood the manufacturers of the rig for Hugo Boss have confirmed that the broken mast can be sleeved and repaired. The boat itself is expected to be moved this evening, detailed ultrasound inspections are being completed. Mike Sanderson, skipper of Britain´s TeamOrigin America´s Cup team is presently helping oversee the inspection and giving input to the possible repair procedure and timings. Tuesday´s press conference announcement has been delayed until 1700h.

There has been little additional information concerning the repairs planned by Alex Thomson and the Hugo Boss shore team. While the British yachtsman remains confident in his ability to get his monohull fixed after the damage she received when struck by a fishing boat off Les Sables d’Olonne last week, the evaluation process continues. A large part of the internal structure of the boat has been damaged at the level of the starboard shroud chain plate, and it will be necessary to rebuild and fill a five metre long, two metre high hole in the side of the boat using the original Hugo Boss mould. For the mast, Alex Thomson believes the solution of repairing the spar, which broke in two, is the most realistic. After an inspection by the manufacturer, he is now waiting for some specialist equipment to arrive to analyse the breakage using ultrasound technology. The conclusions are expected to be announced at a press conference tomorrow morning.

All of the skippers got together this morning at 9h30 for two briefings with the Race Directors, the Race Committee, the Protest Committee and the Rules Committee, in order to learn about how the measurement and safety checks will take place aboard the monohulls during the next two weeks.

With the arrival of a low-pressure area affecting Brittany and the Channel coast on Tuesday morning, the weather will gradually change in Vendée during the afternoon and it will start to cloud over from the north west. Thanks to a southerly wind the temperatures are rising today and are expected to go above 20° this afternoon. This afternoon, the ten-knot southerly that is currently blowing will veer south westerly this afternoon and increase to around fifteen knots.  For tomorrow (Tuesday), we are heading for a steady decline with rain and much cooler temperatures as the wind continues to veer from the west to north west. However, the fine weather is expected to return by Thursday with a gradual improvement from Wednesday.

Several racers from the Vendée Globe and other events have already strolled through the aisles of the village and taken a close look at the thirty monohulls lined up neatly for inspection down on the pontoon in Port Olona. The new generation of Imoca 60 boats are in the spotlight, as eighteen prototypes have been specially designed and built for this non-stop solo race around the world without assistance. Philippe Poupon, Alain Gautier, Jean-Luc van Den Heede, Titouan Lamazou, Yvon Fauconnier, Jean-François Coste, Jean-Luc Nélias, Eric Dumont, Karen Leibovici… are just a few of the skippers, who have come to Les Sables d’Olonne to bathe in the atmosphere of this sixth edition of the Vendée Globe.

It was before the milk was delivered this morning that Roland Jourdain set sail on a short trip to test the new sails on Veolia Environnement. Then at 10h00, Marc Thiercelin joined him out at sea on DNCS to sail until the evening tide. We should add that the thirty Vendée Globe monohulls can leave the pontoon in Port Olona for a few hours, as long as they have sought permission from the Race Committee.