Dominique Wavre (Téménos II) still has 1110 miles to go to reach Fremantle.  He talked to his shore team this lunchtime:

“This morning the wind filled in quite markedly and right now I have between 25 and 30 knots, accompanied by a fairly big swell of around 4.5 metres. I wasn’t expecting it to be this strong. I thought I would be a little more sheltered than this by being up in the north and I also imagined that the swell would calm down a little quicker. The sun is playing hide and seek with the clouds and the light and colours are superb today. From time to time I settle myself in the boat’s companionway with my coffee to enjoy the spectacle. By tomorrow I should have been able to hoist a little more sail area and make a pretty much direct course towards Fremantle. For the time being I’m managing to maintain a 12 knot average and the strong swell is pushing the boat along nicely. The keel is moving but there are no suspect noises or water ingress. According to the forecasts, the wind could climb to 35 knots. Squalls are likely, so I’m watching the horizon, though there’s no sign of them at present.”
 

Like several other of the competitors have told us, Jonny Malbon (Artemis) is preparing for Christmas and in his latest video, shows us his Christmas tree... To watch the clip, click here and select Jonny Malbon.
 

As soon as the frigate Arunta arrived in Fremantle, Yann Eliès was transferred to the Royal Perth Hospital where he is due to be operated on on Tuesday morning (local time). Welcomed by members of his team and the Generali group, he is now waiting for his family to reach Australia. Tomorrow, Philippe Laot and Jean-Baptiste Epron will be going aboard a 35-metre fishing boat to head for Generali, which is still hove to in the Indian Ocean. "We should be able to set off tomorrow», confirmed Jean-Baptiste Epron, who reckons it will take 5-6 days to reach the position, 700 miles south of Australia… According to Dr.Yves Lambert, Yann's doctor, who has spoken to the surgeon at the Royal Perth Hospital, the procedure involves inserting a pin, as this is considered to be the best treatment of a broken femur. The fracture is neat enough to allow this type of operation, which is commonplace and is well tested, in particular on the victims of road accidents.
 

"We're going to be fairly fast over the next 24 hours. There are some strong winds forecast. But it's not going to be much fun. We shall be at 120° to the wind, with the ballast in place to improve stability. The boat will be heeled over with water everywhere in the cockpit. We're going to be shaken about. Not yet time for long surfs. It should in fact act in our favour and allow us to make up a little of the lost ground over our rivals. It's not going to be a quiet Christmas Eve. We've got another 16 days ahead of us like that. After that we'll be getting close to the Horn -the way out of the south, which will be no bad thing."
Vincnt Riou (PRB) talking to his shore team this afternoon.
 

The skipper of Generali was taken off the Australian frigate, HMAS Arunta this morning, a day and a half after the intervention of the rescue team, 700 miles south-east of Cape Leeuwin. Yann Eliès was taken to hospital immediately for a thorough examination. You can watch the boat arriving and Yann being taken off in a video clip (with French commentary).  To watch the clip, click here and choose the clip Yann Eliès arrives in Perth.
 

Sailing 120 miles from South Africa this morning, Maisonneuve is due to reach Port-Elizabeth tonight. Still suffering from a faulty pilot and wear to his mainsail halyard, Jean-Baptiste will be helped once he is there by a team of lifeboatmen from the local yacht club and a Frenchman, who has offered to help. After a quick return to France, a few repairs in Port-Elizabeth in early January, the skipper will set sail again, this time accompanied by his assistant, Ronan Cointo, for a delivery trip to Lorient in Brittany.
«This return trip is really dreadful! My final pilot made a mistake twice today and the mainsail halyard is 80% worn away in some places. I must admit that all that is beginning to get me down. I have tidied up and dried out the boat, eaten and slept. I even offered myself some time off to watch some DVDs, which I have never done before at sea.»

Jean-Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve) by e-mail.