The frigate HMAS Arunta arrived in Fremantle this morning at 3h10 GMT. He was immediately transferred to the Royal Perth Hospital.

Jean-Baptiste Epron's declaration after a short conversation with Yann Eliès in Perth this morning: «The Arunta moored up just after 3. We spent five minutes with Yann before he was taken off. He is in a suit which protects his chest and leg. He is talking very slowly due to the medicine. The medical team are with him and the captain came to say goodbye. Yann thanked him and they agreed to see each other, when he is better. The ambulance was waiting just outside. there were 6 or 7 in the team to take him off. You can tell that he cannot stand moving and is still suffering in spite of the medicine. I think he was pleased to see us and was waiting to go to hospital. It's not easy leaving him like that. With Philippe (editor: Laot, Team Generali's technical director), we'll be setting off in a few hours to recover his boat. That will be one thing less to worry about.»
 

The frigate HMAS ARUNTA arrived in Fremantle at 3h GMT and moored at Victoria Quay. Yann Eliès was taken off and is currently being transferred to the hospital.
 

Yann Eliès's boat is due to be recovered in the next few days by Philippe Laot and Jean-Baptiste Epron from the Generali team. The two men are due to arrive in Australia tomorrow, where they will use a motor boat to get to the area and then sail the boat back with a short-handed crew. The 60-foot boat is currently drifting northwards, 700 miles south of the coast of Australia. She still has the same sails up (three reefs in the mainsail and staysail) and is equipped with two beacons indicating her position.
 

On 12th December, the race committee was informed by the Race Directors that Fondation Océan Vital had not passed the Atlantic Gate as laid down in Race Instructions. On 10th December, the boat approached the line to around 10 nautical miles before moving away again. Informed by the race committee, the skipper firstly declared he believed he had crossed the line, but was later to recognise that due to a software problem, that may not have been the case. The Jury today concluded that Fondation Océan Vital had not left the gate to starboard and although there was no intent to deceive, Raphaël Dinelli has broken article 3 of the Notice of Race as modified by the rider 4, and appendix 3a of the Race Instructions. He is therefore being given a time penalty of five hours that he will have to carry out according to 26.4 (h) of Race Instructions and before reaching 20°S in the Atlantic.

Over the past 24 hours, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) sailed the greatest distance towards the finish. Between 19h yesterday and this evening, the leader, currently 11785.5 miles from the finish, covered 375.9 miles.

"As you know I am now sailing with the starboard rudder down (the one that was damaged last week following a collision with a UFO)! The operation appears to have been successful, although we mustn't count our blessings too quickly. The use of the system needs to be tested, in particular the top attachment and I'm going to have to get used to it. Lots of ropes were attached to deal with this and the work was very tricky. So now I'm setting off again watching how I sail and paying attention to the speed, while at the same time knowing I will have to ease off if necessary not to break something. I'm gradually stepping up the speed to allow me to get back in the race and move up the rankings if possible. It's hard knowing I gave up the lead because of such an incident, and had to suffer after doing so well. But that's life. Tthat's sport. Now we're in another race. Let's hope that it remains a pleasure! "
Jean-Pierre Dick in an e-mail sent this afternoon