Pierre-Louis Castelli and Frédéric Ottenhof will be broadcasting their final show live from the Vendée Globe pontoons tomorrow (Saturday), when they will be talking to three previous competitors, who are now spectators, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, Hervé Laurent and Patrice Carpentier. They will also be hearing from Sébastien Josse with 24 hours to go to the start and will finish with an interview with Philippe de Villiers, President of the Vendée Council and the SEM Vendée, which organises the Vendée Globe.

Kito de Pavant was extremely relaxed this morning at his press conference. Under a barrage of questions from journalists, the skipper from France's Mediterranean coast talked about how he will be tackling his first Vendée Globe….

His boat: «She corresponds exactly to what I was looking for. I believe that a boat, which is light is easier to handle than a powerful boat. I think to sail quickly, you also need to be able to do it for a long time… »

Kito and the cold weather: «Like all Southerners, I need to be warm. Apart from my fleeces, in order to to save energy, I've gone for a heat pad. My seat is fitted with an element which warms my back. Not to be confused with an electric chair.... »

Talking about the three months of sailing with the cow on his sail: «I love that cow. She laughs all the time and as I'm someone, who is naturally happy, that suits me fine. Besides, my cow is so big that in the end I'll not even notice her… »

Talking about his experience of IMOCA boats: «I'm a rookie in the Vendée Globe. That's a drawback, as I know I lack experience in those seas. But at the same time, it may be an advantage, as I don't know what to expect down there. When you have no idea what you'll be facing, you can't feel apprehensive. As for IMOCA sailing, I was lucky enough to sail twice with Jean Le Cam in the Transat Jacques Vabre and I learnt a lot from him.»

Each day from 11 to noon (French time), Pierre-Louis Castelli and Frédéric Ottenhof bring you interviews from down on the Vendée Globe pontoons. Today (Friday), they will be talking to Ellen MacArthur, the designer Pascal Conq, Patricia Brochard (Sodeb’O) as well as Mike Golding (Ecover), Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) in the company of the award-winning French author, Erik Orsenna.

Since her relaunch, Alex Thomson's monohull has been carefully examined by the shore team to check for any collateral damage from the collision with a fishing boat. Thus the mainsail halyard has been changed, as wear was detected: « Following the sea trials we were able to confirm that structurally HUGO BOSS is fine. The issue with the halyard only came to light after some time on the water sailing, and fortunately for us, we were able to get the boat out sailing in enough time to identify the issue,»explained the operations manger, Harry McGougan.

 The alloy chaff plate within the HUGO BOSS mast, was corroded from the time the mast spent on the sea bed, following the collision. This corrosion was causing chaffing to the main halyard inside the mast. Continuously for 15 hours (throughout last night), the team devised a shift system to hoist the halyard up and down the mast, a total of 1800 times. This has effectively smoothed the corroded area.

«Until the incident with the fishing vessel, I felt as prepared as I have ever been for a race. I felt physically strong, mentally ready and after completing the Barcelona World Race in second position and breaking the world distance record - I felt I had a strong chance of becoming the first British skipper to win the Vendée. Since the accident – all I have been able to think and focus on is getting HUGO BOSS repaired in time for the Vendée start,» explained Alex Thomson.

Jean-Pierre Dick was the first solo sailor to work with the American Bruce Farr design team. In 2003, he had Virbac-Paprec built and won the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2005 on her. Since then, Bernard Stamm has bought the monohull and he updated her this winter. However, for the ex-vet, in no way are technical innovations the most important thing: «Design choices and technological developments are a plus, but they are not everything. Paprec-Virbac 2 features two major innovations (trim tab and strakes, editor) which should give me that little bit extra over the competition. However, I am convinced that on such a route, it's what's going on in the mind of the sailor that makes all the difference: the human aspect dominates. Motivation and determination can be found throughout this project from the design and build stage and during the race itself. These are the key elements in such an event, which is won over several years on land as well as at sea.»

The average age of the skippers in this sixth Vendée Globe is 41 and a half. The youngest competitor in 2008 is Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve) born on 13th February 1978, while the eldest is the American, Rich Wilson (Great American III), born 19th April 1950.