Contacted during the weekly French Vendée Globe special, Yann Eliès gave us his news today, saying that he had turned the page and was now looking towards the future and thinking of his racing career. He has a busy physiotherapy schedule: getting up at 7h00, swimming pool at 9h00 for walking in the water, walking exercises at 11h30, physio at noon, ice session at 13.30. He hopes to begin to put down his left leg in February and be back on his feet in 6 months. He talked about taking part in the Figaro Event, but has other projects that he will be discussing with his partner, Generali. Before that, he is going to have to be patient to become completely mobile again.
 

"A very successful boat repair day yesterday. Fixed the crack in the transom with shaped plates on the outside and inside of the hull and bolted together - sikaflex as a glue on the outside and epoxy on the inside. That seems to have stopped the noise of crunching nomex as the crack flexed, and with the amount of material I added I think that should be good till the finish. Also went halfway up the mast with the climbing gear, just before sunset to check chafe on the lower shrouds and made  some extra taping of some worn sections of cover. It was my smoothest mast climb so far in the Southern Ocean, my third and final one I hope. So they were the two most important jobs, next is to get the primary pilot system working again, before the wind kicks back in later today. The wind is forecast to fill in from the SW soon and that wind should take me half way to the Horn, once I can pass this gate. Good news is that the moon is getting bigger and it has just set, the skies have cleared slightly and above me I can see the constellations of Orion, the Southern Cross and arcing across the sky right above the mast is the milky way, with just near it, the faint outline of the Clouds of Magellan. That has made this rather frustrating night a bit brighter. Saw a satellite moving rapidly across the sky and realised that is the only man made thing I have seen, apart from Aviva, since entering the southern ocean. I have not seen any plane contrails here, nor any ships. It really is a wild place, and hope that it remains so. Soon it will be light, I should try to get a little sleep in, but strangely not tired at all, it might be the adrenaline from going up the mast earlier, or some quirky effect of the epoxy, though I hope not!"
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) in his daily message
 

Vincent Riou's monohull with Jean Le Cam on board is due to arrive in Puerto Williams, the Chilean naval port, in the next few minutes. PRB entered the Beagle Channel this morning under tow by the patrol vessel Alacalufe, with the NW'ly winds set to strengthen this afternoon. The two skippers are set to step ashore at around 9.30 GMT and will be talking shortly on a live radio link-up with Vendée Globe HQ in Paris.  
 

"It's a nice day and the sun is out, so I was able to recharge my batteries to 83 %. It was a difficult decision to take, but I shan't be stopping at Stewart Island. I obviously need to repair my mainsail halyard. While that problem remains I shall be sailing under reduced sail, which means I will take ages to reach Les Sables d’Olonne! The thing is if I stop on Stewart Island, I'll be even further behind Norbert, and will be crossing the Pacific alone… If there were any problems, there would be no one to come to my aid. If I decided to stop after the Horn, the distance lost to Norbert won't matter as I'll be near the coast and rescue teams. I just hope the halyard holds out until then. The news of Jean Le Cam also influenced my decision as it proves that the quickest help can come from a fellow competitor"

Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Océan Vital) in an e-mail last night. 
 

"Today brings yet more sad news about PRB dismasting It really is not fair. Vincent does not deserve this after saving Jean. I am so sad for the two of them. On board Roxy, things have been "challenging" me all day. First of all the Fleet 77 stopped working. I chased that down to a faulty Voltage converter which has suffered from the extreme conditions by succumbing to condensation inside it (I discovered on dismantling it). I tried to dry it out, but no luck yet. It is in the engine box as a final attempt. As I packed away my electricians tools, I went on deck for a check around, as the wind is dropping. I discovered the first reef line badly chaffed through. So then I put on my "monkey" equipment, with a "riggers" hat on and scrambled out to the end of the boom to fix the rope. In fact, this one is a temporary repair in the form of a bowline to get us into the Atlantic where I can do something more "neat"! I didn't want to spend too much time out on the end of the boom, as although the wind is not too strong, there is a nasty swell which was flinging us around a lot. Just as I had put away my rigging kit, as we got to the end of a surf there was a loud bang, and the boom fired into the air. The vang cable had broken neatly in two. I was very lucky it hadn't happened ten minutes earlier when I was on the end of the boom. So, I got the rigging kit back out, and luckily I have a spare vang cable pre-made, so I got to replacing it. The spare is not as solid as the original, so once the vang was back in place I settled into being a rigger for the afternoon and preparing a better cable so I have another spare ready to go on. I will put this new one on in the Atlantic."
Sam Davies (Roxy) in her daily message
 

The Chilean patrol vessel LSG Alacalufe reached the two skippers at 23h00 local time (2h00 GMT). Under tow, PRB is due to arrive in Puerto Williams at around 8h45 (GMT) with the two skippers aboard. Both are safe and sound and neither was injured when the boat was dismasted.