On Maserati we have caught a lucky break with the weather in the last 18 hours.

We admit Francois Gabart was not thedailysail’s pre-race favourite for the Vendee Globe win.

Auckland, New Zealand has again been selected as a Host Port for the Volvo Ocean Race in a two race deal covering the 12th race in 2014-15 and the 13th.

After four days at sea, and taking a true ‘Southern Ocean battering’ during the past 48hours, the six man crew of the Alexandra Shackleton have emerged on deck, exhausted, but

Today is going to be a day of threading the needle on Maserati.

François Gabart crossed the Vendée Globe finish line at 14:18:40 UTC today, setting a new Vendee Globe and solo round-the-world record of 78 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 40 seconds.

Last night I saw some pretty strong winds, up to 30 knots, so I am very glad I came down to stay close to JP.

Overnight, Jean-Pierre Dick has been tested sailing his keel-less Virbac-Paprec 3 in rougher conditions compared to the previous days rounding the high.

The Vendee Globe leaders are now up to warp speed and are making 19 knots towards Les Sables d'Olonne as Jean le Cam and Mike Golding are into the northeasterly trades of the North Atlantic and Dom

Latest recruit to the IMOCA class is German skipper Joerg Riechers.