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At around 1300hrs GMT, Vendee Globe skipper Jean-Pierre Dick suffered a collision with a solid object which is reported to have removed the port rudder and most of its assembly from the stern of Paprec-Virbac 2.
Dick has explained how he was alseep when he was awoken by a loud bang and the brutal crunch of breaking carbon. He was pulling on his foul weather trousers quickly and got into cockpit just in time to see the damaged, twisted assembly fall into the water off the transom.
Roland Jourdain is 94.7 miles behind in second place as leader Michel Desjoyeaux takes the last hurdle before Cape Horn, the SE Pacific security gate.
Their lead over Jean Le Cam in third has stabilised, with VM Materiaux gaining about 20 miles during the morning period, averaging nearly 20 knots.
Armel Le Cleac’h has taken back fourth place from his running mate Vincent Riou and is 27 miles ahead of the fifth placed PRB.
At 11:45 GMT today there was a dramatic recue deep in the South Indian Ocean. The 17,000 tonne bulk carrier CSK Radiance, having been diverted earlier in the week at the request of MRCC Reunion, located the stricken yacht Hayai with skipper Nico Budel on board and effected a flawless mid-ocean recue.
Budel, a 69 year old grandfather of five was racing the second leg of the Portimão Global Ocean Race when the lead bulb of his keel separated from the keel fin. While the bulb was still attached at the time of the rescue, and the boat was upright, the danger of the bulb coming loose and the boat capsizing was imminent.
For the leaders and those in pursuit Cape Horn starts to occupy the thoughts. The final major milestone, both feared and revered, it marks the big left turn for home.
Seb Josse was left with no other choice than to retire, but he faces a long journey around the high pressure system to get to New Zealand. Here he explains the level of damage that lead to his decision and his disappointment.
"Today at around 0500 GMT the wind dropped enough for me to lift the rudder system, and check what the problem was. I quickly discovered that the issue was on the port rudder and understood why the two rudders were not in line anymore."
Giant dockside scales are looming large for the Volvo Ocean Race shore crews who are frantically trying to calculate whether their boat repairs over the first 15,000 nautical miles of the race may have taken them over the permitted weight limit.
All eight boats were measured at the start of the race in Alicante to make sure they did not exceed the maximum 14 tonne limit set down in the rules. In Singapore, at Pasir Penjang Wharves to be precise where the boats are being repaired and refitted, they will be weighed again.
While Yann Eliès' health has now improved sufficiently to allow him to be flown home this Wednesday 31st December, the Generali IMOCA Open 60 is considered lost at sea some 700 miles south of Australia.
As the medical teams were busy taking care of Yann following his accident, Generali launched an operation to recover the boat. Two members of Team Generali arrived in Fremantle, Australia and identified a suitable boat to take them to where the Open 60 was abandoned.
The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd is being accused of attacking the Japanese vessel Kaiko Maru in Antarctica. The Kaiko Maru claims protesters used their vessel the Steve Irwin to ram and throw bottles of butyric acid onto the Japanese ship.