(Day 66, 250 miles east of Rio) After 65 days racing and over 23,000 nautical miles sailed on the course, the Vendée Globe in effect restarted off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil today with the five top boats regrouping within 26 miles of each other in terms of the distance to the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne.

Charlie Dalin (Apivia) has taken the lead again from Yannick Bestaven, the French skipper of Maître Coq IV who lost the biggest leading margin of the race, over 435 nautical miles. But the 48-year-old skipper from La Rochelle has found breeze this afternoon, closer to the Brazilian shore, and is marginally further north than the Apivia sailor.

Dalin, Bestaven, double Parlympic gold medallist Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL), Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) and Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) are compacted tightly off the Brasilian coast, trying to climb into the Easterly tradewinds which are not at all well established at least until the NE’ly corner at Recife.

“The route to the north is anything but clear. Until Recife, the northeast trade winds are unstable, there are bubbles with less wind, and variations in strength and direction. On the water, there must be pressure differences and therefore speed differences between the boats. It is not at all easy,” Sébastien Josse, the weather consultant for the Vendée Globe explained this morning.

And from now to the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne it seems certain the final 4600 miles will be contested with the intensity of an inshore coastal race where every mile counts. And the tiny gaps – there are just 127 nautical miles back to ninth placed Jean Le Cam (Yes We Cam!) – suggest this epic ninth edition of the Vendée Globe may see places decided on a photo finish.

Dalin warned this morning, “Nothing is settled yet, the wind is not at all established in this area where I am sailing. I still see 24 hours of winds which remain unstable in terms of strength and direction. As we are not yet into the more constant wind there are still lots of things going on. I don’t think it will be until Wednesday morning on the early rankings that we will really see things settle a bit.”

He added, “I'm glad I got back into this. Four days ago, I was 450 miles behind. If I had been told then that I would take the lead four days hence I would not have believed it. It is great to have had this opportunity.”

Dalin casts his eye over his title rivals and remarks, “The condition of the boats will matter. I suspect that not everyone is at 100%, no one really is, but who has what? I know what I have: I am handicapped by my port foil. We'll really see what that means when the wind sets in, so don't lets jump to any conclusions right now. We will see if the real performance against these guys is affected. I touch wood, I have no sails problems. I hope it lasts ! "

Bestaven, in second this afternoon, said: “It is a complicated day both in the East and in the West. I thought at the beginning that by being more West, I might be the first one to get out, but I can't say, from one weather file to the other, because it changes in all directions. I'm here because it’s where I could go with the wind there was in the soft zone. I'm making "small gains" trying to get closer to the direct route. I’ll get back in the race when I have more established winds. The sea is fairly crossed, which shakes up the whole boat and reduces the speed a lot as soon as you fly forwards. Even if I launch off at 5.7 knots, the speed is reduced to 4.3 knots. It's very hot, already 35 degrees this morning, yesterday I had up to 38°C."

All bets are off. Normally by the 64th day of recent editions of the Vendée Globe, the solo non-stop race round the world has been distilled down to a choice of two or at the outside three potential winners.

But as the group of six chasing solo racers are now compressed to within 300 miles of leader Yannick Bestaven, and the skipper of Maître Coq IV has seen his lead of 435 miles melt like snow in the Brazilian sun, to be just 38 miles ahead of Charlie Dalin (Apivia) this afternoon, it is clear any one of the top six or seven boats could hope to break the Les Sables d’Olonne finish line first later this month, probably around the 28th or 29th. Indeed by tomorrow Tuesday, there seems every chance that the leader for 17 days might have been passed.

The semi-permanent cold front which extends from the Brazilian coast, somewhere between Itajai and Rio, out to sea Southeast by eastwards for some 1500 miles, largely set the hierarchy on the descent of the Atlantic back in the third week of November – remember Thomas Ruyant and Charlie Dalin trading gybes downwind less than ten miles apart.

Now on the climb back to the E’ly tradewinds, the same weather feature blocks the fleet. And while Bestaven has lost most by being west, closest to land, the gain is increasingly in the east as the lead group climbs towards the tradewinds. And so not only have Dalin and Thomas Ruyant come back at Bestaven hard, but so too in the east are Damien Seguin, Louis Burton and Boris Herrmann all back in contention.

"I think for Yannick, who sees us coming back to him when he was way ahead, it must be tough. For us it is very gratifying. I wasted a lot of time with some minor issues, but I'll be able to pick back up. The whole Vendée Globe has been like this, the race is far from over,” contends Thomas Ruyant, the LinkedOut skipper on the morning call to Race HQ in Les Sables d’Olonne. Ruyant has just climbed his mast for the fifth time, this time to repair his wind indicator after racing three days blind with no precise wind data. And now the skipper from Dunkirk in the north of France is back on the attack.

So too is fifth placed Louis Burton highly motivated by the competition: “I look at the positions of others, to find out how to get closer to them. I have never known this excitement and pleasure racing so close. I count the miles that separate me from Thomas Ruyant and Damien Seguin and examine their courses. It's exceptional.” says the skipper from Saint Malo from Bureau Vallée 2.

And Boris Herrmann, in sixth position, remarked on the French show today: “How fantastic for the race to be this close during the climb back up the Atlantic, it really is all to play for, for all of us, even Yannick, you know he’s not miles and miles ahead as I can see from my screen, so the regatta is very much still alive, and each to our own to play the match. In the past, we’ve seen climbs up the Atlantic which have been less exciting, perhaps one or two boats clearly ahead, but here we have a real host of different boats which could make the podium places, 4, 5 or 6 boats, with no doubt surprises still to come!”

Bestaven always has 10hrs 15minutes in his pocket – the redress granted for his role in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier and so Boris Herrmann (Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco) has six hours.

And more and more as the prospect of a close, compact regrouping happening there is the issue of who has what, and what potential the skippers and their boats really have. And so the mind games start on the daily media calls. No one wants to admit to their weaknesses, except for Apivia and LinkedOut who have their problems with their port foils. But there is sail damage, hook damage, and other issues which now become even more closely guarded secrets. The stock answer? "I am at 100% and so is my boat!”

Out of the grey and into the technicolour real world:

Celebratory Arcachon brewed beer in hand, Arnaud Boissières crossed his fourth consecutive Vendée Globe Cape Horn at 1135hrs UTC at the start of the French live show today. The adopted son of the town of Sables d'Olonne looked exhausted but elated after a harsh Pacific Ocean.

Another 1hr and 30 minutes later it was the heavily bearded, exuberant Swiss skipper Alan Roura at 1301hrs UTC and then there was the release from the Pacific for Jérémie Beyou at 1534hrs UTC. The skipper of Charal has the honour of being the fastest in the fleet between Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, at 30 days 14hrs 27 minutes some 45 minutes quicker than Armel Tripon (L’Occitaine en Provence). Britain’s Pip Hare should bring Medallia round for her first Cape Horn tonight.

Ranking 17:00 UTC

1. Yannick Bestaven [Maître CoQ IV] —> 4756.61 nm from the finish
2. Charlie Dalin [ Apivia ] —> 12.41 nm from the leader
3. Damien Seguin [ Groupe Apicil ] —> 71.99 nm from the leader
4. Thomas Ruyant [ LinkedOut ] —> 79.03 nm from the leader
5. Louis Burton [ Bureau Vallée 2 ] —> 114.78 nm from the leader

With less than 5,000 miles to sail now to the Vendee Globe Race finish line, the leaders are passing Itajai in southern Brazil, the finish port of the Transat Jacques Vabre, and therefore retracing a now familiar climb back to France which many sailed solo last year after the end of the two-handed race to Brazil.

But with the chasing group now having eroded Yannick Bestaven’s lead to 226 nautical miles and five skippers withing 345 nautical miles, the next 48 hours – and the passage of the cold front at Cabo Frio by Rio – and strategic choices to get to the Easterly trade winds is going to be pivotal.

In second place, 224 miles behind Beataven, Charlie Dalin explained,

“I am happy to have narrowed the gap so much. But the rubber band should compress again, up to the cold front at Cabo Frio which is ahead for us. The passages in this cold front change vary from model to model, it is not easy to find the right route. It will be the key moment, the last hurdle before the trade winds. it is all moving, there will be opportunities which open and close according to the models. Since you can't teleport from East to West, you have to make choices early enough, which makes it difficult. This front is going to redistribute the cards one way or another. Everyone will have their East / West positioning with which they will have to play until the doldrums. This is the last big strategic obstacle (until the doldrums) everyone will sail their line.”

Isabelle Joschke trying to bring MACSF to safety with a keel swinging

Still fighting through big winds and seas with her keel swing Isabelle Joschke is attempting to extricate herself from the nasty low pressure which dealt a final blow to the temporary keel fix which had been set up to hold her keel central after her ram failed a week ago. She still had 30 knots today but sent a moving video, saying,

“I am bitterly disappointed, so sad not to be able to finish this course. But I am proud. Proud of sailing this far and proud of my race. Proud to have rounded the three capes. And to have shown that with MACSF we are all present and a force to be reckoned with. That’s something they can’t take away from us.” bravely stated The Franco-German skipper who had been lying 11th in the South Atlantic after actually sailing more than 21,000 miles on the water and with less than 5,700 miles to sail.

She explained, “This is not the easiest thing at the moment. I’m sailing in conditions that are fairly rough with quite heavy seas. There must be a swell of 5m and and between force 7-9 Beaufort. A bit like the conditions when I rounded Cape Horn. I spent the night bailing out the boat, as there is an ingress of water. I bailed and I pumped. I have managed to stem the flow of water. Now the most important thing is to get to a port and safety and to get myself to safety. I am extremely sad to have to retire. I think the Vendée Globe has been cruel to me.”

Technical Director of the MACSF team Alain Gautier recapped, “A few days ago, Isabelle had an issue with her hydraulic cylinder which is used to cant the keel from one side to the other and so when there is an issue, we had a cylinder which allowed us you to block the keel in the central axis. We set up a form of false cylinder that allows you to maintain the keel blocked in the central axis so you can continue sailing and this is what failed,”

To the Magic Point and beyond…..

According to JP Dick – fourth in 2016 and in 2012 and sixth in 2004 – the battle in the South Atlantic is all about getting to the ‘magic point’ when the skippers can set up on starboard tack and accelerate on the brisk climb in the trade winds to the Doldrums.

For the first five, it is about finding the best transitions between the small weather systems and avoiding the calm areas. Yannick Bestaven has seen his losses stabilise and he will be first into the cold front transition when every leading mile will be worth double when it comes to touching the trade winds which will gradually strengthen.

Behind him, four skippers (Dalin, Seguin, Ruyant and Burton) who will group even tighter in the next 24 hours will put him under real pressure. And so from here to Les Sables d'Olonne where the winner is expected from January 29, the Vendée Globe is going to be electrifying.

To the Horn and beyond…..

Tomorrow Monday will start a great new week on course for Arnaud Boissières, Alan Roura, Jérémie Beyou and Pip Hare. The four skippers will reach Cape Horn to end a very hard time all the way across the South Pacific. The conditions are still anticipated to be difficult on the approach to the mythical cape in a freezing southerly wind. The rough weather is expected to last almost as far as the Falklands Islands for this group of four IMOCAs.

Boissières, ‘Cali,’ who is passing the Horn for the fourth time said today “I'll be happy to get out of this Pacific! But I know that the Horn is a still a long way to the finish, we are still in the south after the course, we must continue to be careful and remain vigilant”.

Ranking 17:00 UTC

1. Yannick Bestaven [Maître CoQ IV] —> 4,867.55 nm from the finish
2. Charlie Dalin [ Apivia ] —> 212.09 nm from the leader
3. Damien Seguin [ Groupe Apicil ]—> 270.52 nm from the leader
4. Thomas Ruyant - [ LinkedOut ] —> 295.88 nm from the leader
5. Louis Burton [ Bureau Vallée 2 ] —> 322.44 nm from the leader

The Franco-German skipper Isabelle Joschke has been forced to abandon her Vendée Globe Race on the 62nd day of racing after a further failure of the keel canting system on board her IMOCA MACSF.

Joschke was lying racing in 11th place racing in difficult conditions, in 30-35 knots of wind in the South Atlantic some 1100 miles east of the Argentinian coast.

During the late afternoon today Saturday 9th January Joschke realised that the hydraulic cylinder which was holding her keel centred had failed. After the main keel canting system failed on January 3rd she had been sailing with the keel centred, held in place by this replacement ram. But the keel is no longer held centred. She immediately lowered the mainsail and was sailing under storm jib to keep the boat as stable as possible.

Alain Gautier, MACSF team manager, explained: “Isabelle is currently taking stock of the situation. She has reduced speed completely to minimise the effect of the waves and to make sure water doesn't get into the boat. The first problem is that she is sailing in the direction of the depression and conditions will deteriorate overnight. Tomorrow a shift in the wind direction should allow her to escape to the north-east to escape this low pressure, and flatter seas should make things easier. It is obvious that Isabelle can no longer continue with her Vendée Globe and will have to retire. We are in constant contact and are studying the various options with her for the next few days."

On Sunday, January 3, the of the hydraulic keel cylinder ram became detached from the keel head so Joschke could no longer cant the keel. A false cylinder was put in place which fixed the keel in the vertical position and it was this cylinder which has now broken.

On the 1800hrs ranking, Isabelle Joschke was in In 11th position, the first woman in this Vendée Globe fleet. She was having a remarkable race, going well In the main ‘peloton’ after dealing with each and every one of several technical problems. She has shown great determination and mental strength but this evening she is devastated to have to pull out of the race when she had sailed 21,224 miles of the race course and had just 5853 nautical miles to sail to the Les Sables d’Olonne finish line.

The Pacific is proving particularly unrelenting for the Vendée Globe competitors still racing eastwards towards Cape Horn. There might be the odd pause for a few hours before the next low pressure system kicks them along the course towards deliverance, and the big left turn out of the Southern Ocean and into the more sheltered waters of the Atlantic.

The next wagon train of IMOCA 60s presently routing their approach to the Horn is led by Switzerland's Alan Roura, with Arnaud Boissières and Briton Pip Hare all close behind. These three musketeers should pass between Sunday night and Monday lunchtime.

Roura, 27 years old, heading for his second consecutive Vendée Globe Cape Horn rounding and Boissières his fourth, have gained miles against Hare today, as the British skipper stays a little bit conservative after her rudder problems and conserves her energy for the final push, which will be in strong winds on a big low-pressure system. At the front of it today the two foilers, La Fabrique of Roura and La Mie Caline-Artisans Artipole, have been three or four knots quicker than Hare’s Medallia.

One hundred and fifty miles further astern both Didac Costa, the Spanish skipper of One Planet-One Ocean and Stéphane Le Diraison on Time For Oceans have had their toughest time of the race so far with gusts over 50kts at times, the French skipper giving a vivid description of being knocked nearly flat in a huge squally gust.

“I think I got the worst of it with winds reaching 60 knots and waves with troughs of six to eight metres. The memory of it will stay with me for life. I have this image of a squall in 60 knots of wind, breaking waves, no sail up, the boat on its side in a snowstorm with the wind howling in the rig with a total sense of powerlessness in the face of these crazy conditions. It is mad to watch the sea which is white, almost like frothing milk and spray coming from all angles. It is just quite incredible. I am happy to have experienced it, it is quite an experience on a human level to have come through this, particularly physically, because it is so cold, but also on a mental and stress level, it is extremely demanding.”

He continues. “It is so cold, you just wrap up with all you have, it is just four degrees inside the cabin and then you hear the waves breaking on deck or being knocked down by a wave and you have to get dressed in the wet clothes and go out in the middle of the night. It is then that you have to just not think about it or question yourself. That is why I like that expression you just have to disconnect your brain, to concentrate on what needs to be done. Get out of the bunk, get dressed and go through the list of things that need to be done and leave the analysis of it all for later.”

By way of sharp contrast in the South Atlantic off the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay and the south of Brazil it is hot for leader Yannick Bestaven (Maître CoQ IV) in more ways than one. He has seen his lead shrink from 435 nautical miles to 263 this evening. And in second place Charlie Dalin is pushing Apivia very hard in near ideal foiling conditions, flat seas and 15-17 knots of breeze, constantly making 23-25kts averages to be 50 miles ahead of third placed Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut).

Dalin told Argentina’s three times Olympic medallist Santi Lange today on the Vendée Globe Live show, “I have good conditions to go fast, I currently have 22-23 knots of boat speed for 15 knots of wind. So, I am on the right foil. The sea state is getting flatter and I can feel the distance between Yannick and me shrinking so I hope that carries on for as long as possible. It is not going to be a straight line for me onwards, but there is an opportunity here and I am on it.”

Lange, like Dalin a qualified Naval Architect, asked about the foiling ability of the new generation boats in the south and how close they have been to hopes and what they saw during training, Dalin replied:

“It is a lot related to the wind stability. If it is a very gusty day you cannot carry as much sail as if the wind was more stable. And also, the sea state, the sea state was the biggest problem in the Southern Ocean. In the Indian and part of the Pacific we just could not push. The sea state did not permit it. But yesterday I was still under my speed polars, because I was in a 2m seaway. And when I was reaching speeds of 30kts then the slamming is too much. The sea state is such a factor. Obviously, you push less hard than you do in training. You cannot be trimming, on the sheets all the time, you have to be able to leave the boat to go when you are sleeping. You run a few percent below what the boat could do. Sea state and wind stability.”

Of the wind conditions and strategy ahead Dalin concluded: “It is going to be a complicated days ahead, dealing with the high pressure which will pass behind Thomas and I, and there will be transitions and the trade winds and this high pressure which is really, really complicated with a big area of no wind. It is changing all the time on the GRIB files. It is going to be a tough ascent to tackle I see there is an opportunity to catch up. So hopefully it will go OK.”

In ninth place, this evening Germany’s Boris Herrmann has ground in Italian skipper Giancarlo Pedote and the two were racing in sight of each other.

Six hundred and sixty miles behind Bestaven and 134 miles from fifth, Herrmann said, “I am in sight of Giancarlo. We are through the strongest winds on the low, I hope, I think. It is pretty light right now. I am a little suspicious this might be just a little joke to then to knock us down in half an hour or do we set more sail. I think I might go up to the J2 from the J3 and two reefs. The sea state was better than expected. In general, this whole system was gentler than expected. I was not looking forwards to the system but in the end so far so good. Now we are sailing downwind with this flow for 12 hours or so, then gybing away. We have a huge lull Sunday evening before we enter the trade winds. I think I will postpone my champagne until we are in the trade winds. There is always something to do and there is not yet a moment to appreciate champagne properly. So far so good.

Even with the Vendee Globe's relatively slow race pace – compared to the 74-day record of the 2016-17 race, there are some interesting statistics now coming to the surface of the single-handed non-stop yacht race around the world that is expected to finish in France later this month: 

Some statistics:

• Leader Yannick Bestaven has completed 78% of the route compared with 48% for the last-placed Sébastien Destremau
• The Skipper the most times at the top of the official rankings, Charlie Dalin (137 times) who will be matched this evening by Yannick Bestaven
• 10 leaders have lead since the start (in order according to the time spent in the lead): Charlie Dalin, Yannick Bestaven, Alex Thomson, Thomas Ruyant, Jean Le Cam, Maxime Sorel, Jérémie Beyou, Damien Seguin, Louis Burton, Benjamin Dutreux.
• Longest distance covered in 24 hours since the start: Thomas Ruyant, on November 21, 2020 with 513.3 miles (954.3 km), at an average speed of 21.6 knots.
• Now more than 30 ascents up the mast to make repairs
• Actual distances sailed and average race speed of the leaders:
  Apivia 22 296.81 nms 15.2kts
  LinkedOut 22 286.49nms 15.2kts
  Maître Coq IV 22 022.01nms 15.0kts

British skipper Pip Hare kept her Vendée Globe on course when she replaced her damaged port rudder on Medallia yesterday evening, completing the difficult operation in the South Pacific Ocean some 1000 miles west of Cape Horn.

Having discovered a crack in the shaft of her rudder, the 45-year-old had no alternative to stop her IMOCA 60, drop out of the damaged rudder and ship the spare in 20 knots of wind and a big Pacific swell.

Hare may have lost two places, dropping to 17th, but the English solo racer who is on her first time ever in the Southern Ocean, has kept her race alive and – if she maintains the same pace as today – she should reach Cape Horn and deliverance from the south on Monday afternoon or evening.

“Every part of my body aches. I have bloody knuckles on every finger, bruises all down my legs and muscles I didn't know I had that hurt but YES!!!!! The new rudder is in and Medallia is back in the game. Yesterday I was scared and apprehensive. The conditions were far from ideal, a big swell and a forecast for a light patch between gales. I talked through the procedure with Joff and with Paul, the main concern was slowing the boat down enough to get the rudder in and then the boat landing on the rudder stock and doing damage to either. Eventually with a drogue out of the back and under bare poles in 16-18 knots of breeze I went for it”.

She noted this morning, “I think the whole procedure took about an hour and a half with many hours of preparation and packing up before and after. My heart was in my mouth for the whole time. I ran around the cockpit, winding winches, pulling ropes, sliding over the to the back of the boat to grab, yank, manhandle, rudder ropes and anchor chain. Once I was committed to doing it there was nothing that was going to get in my way. There were some tough moments and I had to plead with my boat and the ocean a couple of times but when that new rudder stock finally came shooting up through the deck level bearing the out loud whooping that came from me could easily have been heard for miles around... if anyone had been there to hear it.”

In an emotional exchange this afternoon with Swiss ace Bernard Stamm who built Medallia as Superbigou 20 years ago and won two solo round the world races on her, he told her, “You are my hero. What you did is incredible. I hope you have no more problems before you finish back in Les Sables d’Olonne."

Hare was making 14.5 to 15 knots this Friday afternoon with some 900 miles to Cape Horn.

And among her group, the impatience to pass Cape Horn becomes more pressing for the pack which extends from Alan Roura (now 15th), to Kojiro Shiraïshi (21st). This morning, after finding a tear on his J2, Jérémie Beyou (18th) sounded utterly fed up: “Since the Tasman the wind has not dropped below 35 knots, it's just wearing. Three days ago it was just rubbish, it was super violent. It was between 6 and 7 meters troughs and it was coming from the side breaking, so the boat was going in a wave and suddenly a breaking wave was coming from the side. I got thrown to the back of the boat a few times.”

At the back of this group, Manu Cousin today has his own share of problems. His boat made an involuntary gybe, breaking a mainsail batten car broke, tearing the mainsail just above the 3rd reef, forcing the adopted Les Sablais racer to drop the main and sail at low speed under J3 alone, knowing that this small headsail is also showing some signs of weakness.

Even with the relatively slow race pace – compared to the 74-day record of the 2016-17 race - food supplies are not yet an issue, even still with some having their Deep South requirement of about 7,000 calories a day. "I have enough to go around the world for the second time," laughs Alexia Barrier. That is not the case for second-placed Thomas Ruyant who only took 80 days of food and so says he will be missing breakfasts and a few sweet snacks by the time he reaches Les Sables d’Olonne later this month.

Bestaven slowed but still over 400 miles ahead

Ruyant is just determined to do the best he can. He has come back nicely at second-placed Charlie Dalin since Cape Horn, steadily gnawing back miles to be racing side by side some 15 miles apart in what is more and more looking set to be a race to the finish line of Figaro offshore one design level intensity. Weather files now predict the top group to become more and more compact. Ruyant needs to make another mast climb to repair an wind vane which is depriving him of wind mode (his 5th climb). But the match race with Apivia, the two Verdier designs seven miles apart still, is precluding Ruyant’s next mast ascent.

Leader Yannick Bestaven still has some 411 miles in hand over Dalin and Ruyant, Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL) is fourth 51 miles behind.

Britain’s Pip Hare is looking for a benevolent small weather window in the depths of the South Pacific Ocean to allow her to replace the port rudder of her IMOCA Medallia after she discovered a crack in its stock (the shaft which locates into the hull of the boat). It is a complicated operation which the 45-year-old solo Vendée Globe skipper practised at the dock in Les Sables d’Olonne, France before the solo non-stop race around the world started on November 8th 2020, but which will be made much more difficult in one of the most hostile and loneliest areas of the southern oceans.

“The crack is in the stock between the deck and the hull, just underneath where the quadrant attaches and every time the pilot was going to move the rudder the crack was getting a little bit worse. I have no choice but to change the port rudder. If I continue sailing hard the stock will fail under load in a matter of hours.” Hare reported, “Naturally I am completely devastated about this failure and what it means to my race but the only thing to do right now is to put the racing on hold and focus on solving this problem to keep both me and Medallia safe.”

In her message the 45-year-old from Poole, Dorset, added,

“I am devastated but I am also accepting. This has happened and it cannot be changed. The only action now is to deal with the problem in the best way possible and then move forwards from there. I am hugely proud of my performance to date. It has been a total joy to race this intensely for 59 days and it will be a total joy to get back into the race when I am finished. I had a few tears but not many because this problem is a big one and there is only one way to deal with it - which is a total focus of energy on solving it and staying safe. I will never forget the fact I was 15th for so long and when I get back to racing again, whenever that may be I will do my very best to claw my way back up the fleet again for now I have just hit pause.”

Her team say that Hare is looking to a potential break in the weather during the small hours of tomorrow (Thursday) morning, when the operation might be possible.Medallia’s boat captain Joff Brown explains the procedure:

“The problem really is in getting the old rudder off because it is buoyant and so sinking it to get it out it is not easy to get a lot of leverage from the bottom. But it is something we had practiced in Les Sables d’Olonne before the start and so I think that gives Pip a bit of confidence in what she has to do. But the problem is the sea state has to be reasonably flat because when the rudder is angled and heels then there is more strain on the bearings. At the dock this whole process might take an hour or so but in seas like this it can take much more. But Pip is very focused and determined. There is a small weather window around 0100hrs (UTC – when it is still daylight for Pip) but if not then it could be a couple of days waiting. She is resigned to the situation and I am sure will deal with it and get on with what she has to do.”

Medallia had a new spare rudder built by Jason Carrington Boats just before the boat was delivered to Les Sables d’Olonne. According to Brown this a standard procedure which he has practiced pre-start by previous skippers Dee Caffari and Rich Wilson previously using a method devised by Conrad Humphreys in 2004-5 where 50-60kgs of anchor chain is lowered below the rudder to help drop it out. See video here

Medallia was lying in 15th in the Vendée Globe fleet and still making just under eight knots under reduced sail. Alan Roura who is 16th is around 20 miles behind.

Escaping first out of a high pressure which had slowed the leading four boats, Vendee Globe leader Yannick Bestaven the skipper of Maître Coq has gained over 200 miles on the solo skippers immediately behind him. The 48-year-old from La Rochelle has the biggest lead of the race yet at 440 nautical miles, ahead of Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut) who passed Charlie Dalin (Apivia) again today, the French duo match racing only 12 miles apart today some 400 miles SE of Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Bestaven, freshly shaved and looking bright, said: "It's great to have been able to pass the high-pressure zone, I was able to gain some miles and then make good speed, it hasn’t been bad at all. I am satisfied with that, but when I look at what is going to happen ahead of me... I feel like the bungee cord is going to snap back and those behind me will start closing the gap. I hope there will be enough wind, as I only have a few tens of miles of advantage left. But I can’t let it stress me, I’m going to have to keep a cool head because I am going to lose a lot of ground again.”

He joked, “I don't know who has been in charge of the weather during this Vendée Globe, but I’m telling you, we need a new meteorologist! It looks like everything has been working against us being able to arrive quickly back in Les Sables d'Olonne! The situation is very complicated, there are some lows which will suck up all the wind. Forming a strategy is difficult, because different models are showing different things. I don't think that anyone really knows how it's going to play out, but we'll have to be on top of it. I'm going fast but I'm also resting a lot to make sure I have my eyes wide open during the difficult 24/48 hours ahead, and be able to make the most of the wind that there is. I’ll have to approach at low a speed in the north to pick up on new winds. It will be a bit "Figaro-esque” and I know I have experts behind me. It won’t be a walk in the park! I’m going to try to make some real headway towards the end goal.”

(Vendée Globe Day 59 - Leader 750 miles east of Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina) Rested and fully energised in beautiful sunshine, climbing north up the South Atlantic, the mercury rising and sailing in a moderate breeze, Vendée Globe leader Yannick Bestaven’s strategic choices may prove better than his off quay rendition of a Jonny Hallyday classic, but with a margin of over 170 miles – and at times peaking at over 20 knots earlier today, the 48-year-old skipper of Maître Coq IV had every reason to be in full voice in a video he sent today.

The weather modelling is quite unreliable where the race leaders are – as they proved on the descent of the Atlantic some five weeks ago – but there seems to be a chance that Bestaven might be able to wriggle out of a high-pressure system and escape from his pursuers on a small depression which would slingshot him north. The next 48 hours will be key.

At the same time as Bestaven was lapping up the sunshine, enjoying the benefits of leading the fleet into escalating temperatures, 750 nautical miles behind Germany’s Boris Herrmann was wrestling with some of the toughest moments of his race on SeaExplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco. At some 150 miles from his fourth racing rounding of the Cape, Herrmann tore the leech of his mainsail and so had to sail all the way past the horn only under his J3 – small headsail, dropping to be 10th at the Cape, the passage of which, he reported later, he hardly noticed in the 40-45 knots winds.

Exhausted after the marathon repair, Herrmann reported late this afternoon, “I am happy to have got around the Horn but I hardly noticed it. I was just fully focused on repairing my mainsail. South of Cape Horn at 140 miles something like that I knew there was quite a bit of wind coming, 45-50 and I was going down through the sequence J3 and two reefs and was about to take the third reef and the leech of the sail caught the shrouds.”

He explained, “Luckily I was able to repair it. And that makes me really happy. It was complicated because it was structural, I had to dry and clean two layers up there in 45 knots of wind, it was pretty hairy on deck and I suppose it was well intentioned, but I finished today in the sunshine in the Atlantic. And now it is finally great to be in the Atlantic, sunshine, lighter winds and blue skies. And I have a mainsail up and that is just great.”

From early this morning there was an unprecedented number of boats passing Cape Horn in short order. Four solo skippers passed Cape Horn in a period of less than four hours. Between 0240hrs UTC on Monday morning when Damien Seguin (Group APICIL) rounded and 0401hrs Tuesday morning when Isabelle Joschke (MACSF) rounded in 11th, eight IMOCA skippers rounded the famous Cape Horn and passed back into the Atlantic after over one month in the Southern Oceans.

At 0016hrs UTC last night it was the first Horn rounding in the career of Maxime Sorel (V and B Mayenne), 3hrs and 58 minutes after Jean Le Cam whose seventh time it was. Italy’s Giancarlo Pedote (Prysmian Group) rounded 55 minutes later at 0112hrs to become the first non-French skipper in ninth.

At 0227hrs UTC Boris Herrmann of Germany fighting his problems made his fourth racing passage of his career rounding in tenth position on Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco, 1hr and 15 minutes after Pedote.

Then at 0401hrs Isabelle Joschke crossed Cape Horn for the first time in her ocean racing career. Racing MACSF she was just 1hr and 34 mins behind Herrmann.

Next to pass, and certain of mean, nasty Cape Horn conditions will be Clarisse Crèmer (Banque Populaire X) this evening followed by Armel Tripon (L’Occitane en Provence).

Second-placed Charlie Dalin (Apivia) took time to reflect on the two different worlds, after his first time in the Southern Ocean: