Loïck Peyron, (Gitana Eighty) took the lead over the night (13 November), as the pace starts to increase at the front of the Vendée fleet. At the 1000 GMT positions, Peyron was leading by 14 miles, ahead of Seb Josse (BT) and Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2). Less than a mile separate second and third.

Three and a half days after the original start of the sixth Vendée Globe, Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) returned to the race course this morning after replacing his carbon bowsprit which was knocked off by a collision on the first night.

Stamm headed out of Les Sables d’Olonne at around 0240hrs GMT to a rousing send off. Only a matter of minutes before it had been the unfortunate Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) and Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com) which the Les Sables locals gave a warm welcome back to the pair who were both dismasted in a Biscay storm late on Tuesday.

Stamm said: ” The whole team has done a great job working day and night since I came back to repair the damage. There was the broken bowsprit, three damaged ballast compartments, the port dagger board and a lot of repairs to the mast. It took a lot of work with composites. I have been delayed by three days and am setting off in a high-pressure area, which isn’t great. But, that’s the way it is. There’s a long journey ahead. We’ll see what happens.”

British hopeful, skipper Mike Golding (Ecover 3), still holds eleventh place. As the leaders stretched away slightly, moving progressively into stronger winds, Golding is 97 miles behind Peyron. Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) is a further 8 miles behind in twelfth, and Dee Caffari a further 10 in thirteenth.

For a full list of boat positions, click here .