Raphaël Dinelli (Akena Vérandas) was in 14th place yesterday afternoon, 5181 miles from the leader, when he noticed his gooseneck was about to break.

According to Dinelli who sent the following report it would have been the end of the race for him had it broken: “The spindle on my gooseneck was about to break. The boom would have come away from the deck. Without a boom, it would have been the end. I noticed just in time and I spent the day making a replacement part.

“I think a bolt must have worked loose during the battering in the storm. Now I’m becalmed. The boat is being tossed around by the swell and the sail is flapping from one side to the other. It’s really when there is no wind that the boat suffers the most. I’m not feeling very upbeat. Stopped here on this ridge, where I can see no way out, while Jean [Le Cam] is about to round the Horn. Behind, Karen [Leibovici] is creeping up on me.

“The finger is better. I’m looking after it. It’s my lumbago that really hurts now. Karen and myself are really the cripples in the Vendée Globe.”