Norbert is now around half a mile from the finish, which he should cross in the next ten minutes.  His speed has been fairly irregular over the past hour.  

It is lovely sight as Norbert the terminator closes down the final few miles of the Vendee Globe course, completing the full circle of life of this remarkable race. His yellow and black Nauticsport Kapsch is picked out brillantly in the evening sunshine, heeling gently at times and picking up speed, but the sea is glassy smooth with just a few wind lines now. He has slowed as he gets to within a few miles of the line, but the breeze is blowing offshore and he will have to tack at least once still to get there. It is not going to be a fast finish for Norbert.

Norbert Sedlacek is living the final miles of his Vendee Globe dream in the company of his friends and family and supporters who are now alongside in a fleet of RIBS and powerboats on a perfect sunny, Sunday evening. This may have been one of the toughest races yet, with the highest attrition yet, but this is the perfect way to bring it to an end. Sedlacek looks in great shape, joking about the smell from inside his foul weather gear, but he has posed and posed for the media, the former Hilton Vienna waiter about to finish his race.

Nauticsport Kapsch looks in reasonable fettle. He is sailing with the main fixed by a tie at about half height because of the damaged mast track, the cover is gone from the opening into the keel head, and his main looks like it has done a few miles. Otherwise both the boat and the skipper look great. Breeze is just seven or eight knots and he is gliding along towards the line about three and a half or four miles away at about six to eight knots.

8 boats are already out on the water to welcome Norbert Sedlacek back to Les Sables.  There is a light breeze and flat calm seas.  He is moving gently along at 7-8 knots under genoa and two reefs.  The seas are so calm it looks like a quiet summer's evening.

And so the final finisher of the 2008-9 Vendee Globe, Norbert Sedlacek, is now expected at the finish line between six and six thirty GMT, seven and seven thirty local time. His team have recently spoken to him and he is making around six or seven knots and is less than 30 miles now from the finish line.

Norbert Sedlacek will be bringing the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe to an end this afternoon. The skipper of Nauticsport-Kapsch was sailing this morning (03h30 GMT) at 3° 21.58' west and 46° 11.00' north, which puts him off the island of Ré. The yellow monohull was only 67.4 miles from the finish and was sailing due east at 8.5 knots. Norbert is therefore expected to cross the line this afternoon before entering the harbour.