The temperatures are back to the average for this time of year with 11°C forecast today. It will remain slightly cloudy, but some fine periods can be expected. Winds - northwesterly 10 to 12 knots. Tide times: Morning: coefficient 86, High tide 3h48 - 5.07m, Low tide 10h02 - 1.02m Evening: coefficient 87, High tide 16h06 - 5.12m, Low tide 22h22 - 1.01m

Update from the Hugo Boss repairs today: Boatworld: Significant progress, the outer carbon skin has been successfully laminated so the new hull section is fixed in place, and the high-density core is being fitted, ready for the the carbon inner skin to be applied tomorrow. Rigworld: A fairly big day for the riggers today as "two becomes one" so the two sections of the mast, with their new inner sleeves have been glued into place, and are joined together by the addition of two outer shells which will clamp around the inner sleeves, thus giving us a whole rig once again! It´s imperative to ensure that all the mousing lines are properly attached at this stage - there´s no chance of threading them through again once it´s complete.Spliceworld: Continued good progress - so much so that the splicers have started to work on the spare ropes that Alex will take with him, rather than just the ones that had to be replaced.Provisional arrangements have been made for cranes and/or lorries to enable us to get the boat back in the water on 31st October, ready for an intensive week of sailing and fine-tuning before the race start.

For those of you visiting les Sables d'Olonne, tonight there will be an opportunity to enjoy some Celtic music with the group, Pao Bran, who will be performing in the VOG´ Café from 9.30.

Today we have a 20 knot north-westerly wind, which will be easing off to around 18 knots this afternoon. The clouds will make way for some brighter periods this afternoon, with a temperature of around 14°C. Tide times for les Sables d'Olonne: Morning, coefficient 82 High tide 3h20 - 4.97m Low tide 9h21 - 1.18m Evening, coefficient 84 High tide 15h39 - 5.08m Low tide 21h45 - 1.03m

Four boats have requested permission to leave harbour for PR operations or for some final adjustments: Yannick Bestaven on Aquarelle.com, Loïck Peyron on Gitana, Sébastien Josse on BT and Marc Guillemot on Safran.

Having your boat in pieces on the dockside just 14 days from the start of your first Vendée Globe is not ideal preparation, but everything is reported to be well under control in the last minute rush to get Steve White’s Spirit of Weymouth ready. No one knows the boat better than Josh Hall, who commissioned and raced the former Gartmore, which was built by JMV from the same mould as Group 4, Mike Golding’s original Open 60. Hall who was one of four British skippers who raced in the 2000 Vendée Globe, finishing 9th has been in Les Sables d’Olonne, working hard on the nearby commercial dock, to ensure White and his boat are ready to take on the skipper’s ten year dream. Hall reveals that without the last minute sponsorship that arrived last week, White stood a very high chance of losing the boat and his family house: “ It actually looks a lot worse than it is as often these things do, but a lot of work needed doing to the boat, basic work, to get her on to the start line and so she is completely in pieces at the moment with the bottom sandblasted, so it looks like there is a mountain to climb, and there is but it is a small one. But all of the people and all of the equipment is in place.” Hall says. More with Josh Hall in the audio section of www.vendeeglobe.org