And Arnaud has done everything the media could want over the last six miles, he has been to the end of the bowsprit and flapped his arms like a seagull, and is waving and dancing for his big spectator boats which are laden with Akena guests ready for his perfectly timed and choreographed arrival. He has four and a half miles to go.

And being a nice Sunday afternoon and Cali being a local skipper there are many more sailing boats out this afternoon, he sails past them with three and a half miles to go, still making about 7-10 knots as the gusts and puffs come and go.

Thirteen miles from the line and we are alongside Arnaud with his mum Francine and his dad Bernard on the media boat with us. He looks relaxed and happy making a perfect approach, carefully targetting the line under full mainsail and gennaker. The breeze is probably 9-11 knots and he is making 8-10 knots just trucking along nicely with his mainsheet eased and the gennaker comfortably sheeted. He says he is looking forward to his oysters from Arcachon, his mum and dad are delighted to see him. His boat looks in good nick, some abrasion and chafe to the mainsail, but otherwise all A1 conditiion, including the skipper. 

Probably 20 media boats and spectator boats.  The sun is out but chilly, breeze up and down a bit.

The Vendée Globe Village will remain open until Tuesday evening (24th February). From Wednesday, a podium and press conference hall will be set up on the Place du Vendée Globe for the final skippers. Those still at sea will therefore be honoured in a fitting manner and will be able to address the public, who are expected to turn up in force to welcome them back to Les Sables in the coming weeks.

Unable to enter the harbour in les Sables before miday because of the tide, Arnaud Boissières has been waiting off the coast since first light.  He is set to cross the finish line and enter the harbour immediately afterwards early this afternoon

"Today I inspected the diesel tanks and pumped 55 l diesel. I had to do it by hand as the electric pump flooded. By the end the hand pump was leaking, so I had to try to clean everything up, as the stench of diesel inside is dreadful. I also began to clean my fruit cans. I have around twenty of them and they have been in the bilge oil and water. The switch on the bilge pump wasn’t working, so I repaired that too. I thought about climbing the mast, but with the rain and gusts, it is not wise to get up there. It can wait for a few days, until I'm in the Doldrums. According to the latest forecasts, I could get through without any hold ups, but we shall see. Around 500 miles left to the Equator, so by Tuesday, we should be there!"

Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch) in his daily message yesterday evening

Before going off on holiday with his family, Michel Desjoyeaux has been talking about his future projects. The skipper of Foncia ,"I'm trying to find ways to use my experience to try to resolve problems in other sports. For example, I'm in contact with a sports federation where it may be possible to transfer our technologies. With Mer Agitée, I'd like to work too on new technologies to improve wheel chairs, making them of carbon, which is of course, much lighter. I've been thinking about this for a long time in particular with a friend who is in a wheel chair... I'd really like to help people working in that area. This is important to me and I've already come up with a few sketches… I'm also working with my partner FONCIA about what comes after 2009… »