Today's prize for the greatest distance covered towards the finish goes to Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), who clocked up 345 miles over the past 24 hours.  This evening, he is in eleventh place only 20 miles behind Marc Guillemot in the rankings.  

 

“I have a big bag containing a mixture of birthday and Christmas presents. As a result I’ve opened a few presents today and of particular note was a present from my eldest daughter as well as one from Gitana Team: a small, remote-controlled helicopter!” Loïck Peyron, celebrating his 49th birthday is in second place this evening, 43 miles from the leader.

 

Message sent today by Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital): "Following the decision not to stop off Trindade yesterday evening, we decided to head for Vitoria in Brazil. This morning I managed to remove the loose part of the mainsail halyard cover and I put two stitches in so the halyard will work.  The cover has come off the length of the mast starting with the fixed point at the top of the mast.  I'm heading now for the Tristan Islands to try to drop anchor there.  I think I can sail without damaging the halyard up to first reef, unless it's gone right through at the top. See you soon. Raphaël"
 

The pictures taken by the skipper of PRB, who had the reflex to turn his camera on just after moving away from his fellow competitor, show that this was not a story about the one that got away.  The video shows just how close the racing is in the Forties.  Unprecedented for a Vendée Globe!   
Vincent Riou's (PRB) version of events:
"It was one of the most dangerous moments I have ever had on the open seas. With Virbac, I was forced to grab the helm, because he was starboard and I was on the port side.  So I just had to give way, as he had priority! It just goes to show how close we are… It's completely mad!"

"I just came within a few metres of PRB. I didn't see him as I was sleeping. Vincent called me to tell me.  Luckily he saw me, or it would have been a complete disaster!  With hindsight, it was pretty scary!"  Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2)

Click here to see the video

"The small band of air in which we’re sailing at the moment, is moving off northwards. I’m going to try to follow it for a little while to avoid getting caught by the large, wind hole in the centre of the low further south. From tomorrow onwards we should have less wind, but those out the front should hang onto it for longer. A low is forecast mid-week, which is likely to enable us to make up a bit of ground. We can also expect a compression and  expansion of the fleet as each of the lows home in on us. It’s forecast to be quite blowy.  I’ve opted to be fairly north, so I don’t get trapped beneath the ice gate as the wind drops down.” 
Dominique Wavre (Temenos) in twelfth place, 247 miles from the leader.

 

"The boat structure has a wave-focusing physic into the cabin, when the bow pounds down, the cabin, after a slighly delay, sledgehammers up. This is what re-opened the rib problem a week ago, and did so again last night.  Standing in the cabin watching the instruments, braced in every direction, the boat leapt off a wave and pounded down up forward. 1/2 second later, a sledgehammer shot was applied upward through my feet and skeleton, and I could actually feel the rib healing area tearing again. Mon dieu! Will it ever heal?!"
Rich Wilson (Great American III)