And so one mile from the line, it is still quite puffy on this cold, clear night with about 11 knots of wind blowing, Safran heels a little from time to time, and the security Zodiacs are doing a great job now of keeping his path clear, he should finish at around 0110hrs GMT which will give him about 1.5 hours on Roxy.

So the final minutes and Marco is close to the line, has just signalled to the committee boat his arrival is imminent. The media boats are jostling for the best position trying to get their shots, what a success for Guillemot in his first Vendee Globe.

And the long string of orange streetlights which follow the east  beach of Les Sables d'Olonne are the backdrop to the finish line, a panorama which he left on 9th November, the relief will be welling up as he sees the finish line winking at him a matter of a mile or so ahead of him.

Safran is making 8.6kts upwind towards the line, Guillemot is in the spotlight just now as the TV cameras film. He will love these last few extraordinary minutes, having sailed nearly 1000 miles since north of the Azores with no keel, having been instrumental in the care of Yann Elies when he was injured standing by, and of course stopped twice to try and fix his mainsail mast track with limited success. Boat looks stable, responding to the little puffs, some ten minutes to the finish.

And alongside now, Safran is under staysail and double reefed main, making about seven knots towards the finish, so should cross in 20 mins to half an hour. Guillemot is in the cockpit acknowledging the presence of a growing fleet of boats, each swooping in to get close up photos and film.

The fleet of media boats and spectator boats are on their way out now to meet Safran. We have Safran in sight almost immediately, making steady progress 3 miles from  the finish line. She is upright but moving well and is going to be about two hours inside time to make third place, becoming the second Open 60 in successive races to finish third with no keel!