And alongside now, Safran is under staysail and double reefed main, making about seven knots towards the finish, so should cross in 20 mins to half an hour. Guillemot is in the cockpit acknowledging the presence of a growing fleet of boats, each swooping in to get close up photos and film.

The fleet of media boats and spectator boats are on their way out now to meet Safran. We have Safran in sight almost immediately, making steady progress 3 miles from  the finish line. She is upright but moving well and is going to be about two hours inside time to make third place, becoming the second Open 60 in successive races to finish third with no keel!

Rich Wilson (Great American III) crossed the Equator at 00h10 GMT this morning

Marc Guillemot changed tack at around midnight to head for the finishing line some 18 miles ahead of Safran. He is expected to finish off Les Sables d’Olonne between 01h00 and 01h30 (GMT) .

The fight for third place will be decided in a matter of hours. Aerial pictures of Safran were taken, as she sailed around fifty miles from the finish and can be viewed in the latest photo collection by clicking here.

Contacted this afternoon, the skipper said he was pleased to be finishing and pleased to be able to share this incredible experience.  Now less than 30 miles from the finish, the public, friends and family and …Sam Davies are waiting for Marc Guillemot to arrive.
 

"I have just emptied the last of the powdered milk into my mug and drank what I hope is my final evening cup of tea onboard Aviva during the Vendee Globe. Sat at the hatch, I drank my tea looking at the most marvellous sky. The sky overhead had gone dark and the sky astern was lit up with reds oranges and yellows and outlined at the horizon by silhouetted clouds. It was one of the best of my time at sea during this race and how apt that all things being well it should be my final sunset to drink my tea with. Being a Sunday I did my usual spring clean but today was different as Aviva and I are expecting guests soon. Noise and people will invade our space, but we are both really looking forward to it. I am down to my final hundred miles to go and I can't believe how fast it has all gone. When I spoke to Joff, the boat project manager, when they arrived in Les Sables D'Olonne, he said it felt as if they had never been away. I agree because it seems only yesterday I led the fleet from the dock through the Canal watched and cheered by thousands. It is an experience that will stay with me forever and yet already we are planning tides to go through that same canal, only this time I will have sailed around the world the right way. I will have completed the Vendee Globe and in doing so become the only female to sail single handed around the world in both directions."

Dee Caffari (Aviva) in her daily message