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BREAKING NEWS
At around 0940h GMT this morning the RAN RIB arrived alongside Generali.
Two personnel were despatched on board immediately to assess Yann Elies condition.
There are three another people on board the RIB. The Arunta is sitting about 200 metres upwind of Generali and holding station.
Mistley Parish Council has summoned Michael Dew, the Tendring District councillor for Mistley and Manningtree, to its end-of-year meeting on Monday 22 December to account for his recent actions.
On 9 December Dew voted against a motion put forward by Conservative district councillors Sarah Candy and Carlo Guglielmi that: 'This Council finds the recently erected fence at Mistley Quay to be detrimental to the visual amenity, harmful to the character of the area and contrary to the Council's aspirations to protect and safeguard the Manningtree and Mistley Conservation area."
Overnight, the bulk of the fleet has passed the scoring waypoint and collected the valuable points on offer there.
Yesterday afternoon, Ericsson 4 led Telefonica Blue through the gate as the top two teams on the points leaderboard consolidated their position further. But behind, several battles were shaping up.
In the event, the fight for third between Ericsson 3 and PUMA was the closest battle on the water, and Anders Lewander's team just managed to fight off Kenny Read's il mostro to collect third place.
Yann Eliès’ spirits and mood have lifted knowing help is with him and on its way. He has now managed to reach some painkillers – not morphine – but has also managed to drink some water and some food. Here is a summary of the what was said at this morning's press conference.
His medical condition is stable. Marc Guillemot has attempted several times to throw water, food and medication down the companionway hatch to his stricken fellow skipper, but it has so far proven too difficult.
ETA of the Royal Australian Navy Frigate is now 1400hrs GMT Saturday, schedule improving with favourable weather conditions.
RNLI lifeboat crews in the north of England are offering seasonal sea safety advice in the hope of avoiding a repeat of last Christmas, which was one of the busiest they have ever experienced.
Last year, lifeboats in the rescue charity’s North Division launched 20 times between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day – almost double the number of launches during either of the two previous Christmases*.
Nationally, since 1980, RNLI lifeboat launches over the festive period have increased by 395% from 20 call outs in 1980 to 99 in 2007.
23h GMT Fellow Vendée Globe skipper Marc Guillemot has now arrived close to Yann Eliès’ Generali and will remain on station until the arrival of the Royal Australian Navy’s Type Anzac Frigate HMAS Arunta. He reached the injured skipper after sailing close to 100 miles.
A specialist medical team is on board HMAS Arunta which left at around 1800GMT and should take around 40 hours to reach Generali’s position which was approximately 1100 miles SSE of Perth sometime towards the end of Saturday afternoon.
A press conference was held at Vendee Globe Race HQ in Paris to discuss details of the rescue process which is now under way to evacuate the injured French skipper Yann Elies from his Open 60 Generali.
Elies suffered a broken femur early this morning when Generali was stopped abruptly by a large wave while the skipper was working on the bow of the boat.
Delta Lloyd, trailing the rest of the fleet for much of this third leg from Cochin to Singapore, were dealt a savage blow today when they broke a hydraulic ram on their canting keel mechanism.
Navigator Matt Gregory notified Volvo Ocean Race headquarters at midday that they had developed a hydraulic oil leak and it was later discovered that there was extensive damage to carbon structure around the port side ram.
As Yann Eliès has to be evacuated the rescue process is under way, in close cooperation with the Vendee Globe race safety adviser based in Australia David Adams.
Contact was made immediately with the MRCC, the Marine Rescue Coordination Centre, in Canberra who are responsible for Australian waters. hey have detailed an Adelaide class Frigate which will leave Perth at 1950hrs GMT. It is anticipated that it will take around 48 hours to reach Generali.