"Another long day in the boatyard, worked all day yesterday, all night last night, then had 2 hours sleep at dawn before carrying on all day. Will probably go all night again and then I should be done, and can get some sleep, but actually feel ok. Been eating and drinking to keep up the energy levels. The wind is just starting to creep up to 20 knots and I am on double reefed main. Some of you may be wondering why I am going so slowly, and it is because I need the hull not to move and allow the crack to propagate further. Also now that I am more than half way through the repair, there is a lot of adhesive setting, and the steadier the boat, the more likely it is to hold in the correct position. It’s a bit like superglueing a broken plate – you have to hold it very still so that it can set. That’s the plan anyway, but it is far from perfect working conditions, so fingers crossed that the sheer amount of material added will overcome the lack of technical perfection. Another perfect sailing day today, but sadly I could not take advantage of it, but I did have a wonderful view of a pair of albatross this afternoon, circling the boat. They really are breathtaking animals, with their wings like a competition glider’s. Tomorrow big wind coming, and I will be monitoring the repair closely during the low. Tonight I got the big furling sails down and bagged up and am rigged and ready for the breeze to arrive. "
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

Over the past 24 hours, Vincent Riou (PRB) currently in sixth place, 485.1 miles from the leader, sailed the greatest distance towards the finish.  Between 19h yesterday and this evening, he covered 368.3 miles.
 

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.