Superyacht News

Race time: 39 days, 20 hours

Position: Off the Auckland Islands

Like two boxers standing toe-to-toe and swinging from the hip, Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire) and Francois Gabart (MACIF) are trading blows with every ranking. Le Cléac'h landed one overnight – their day in the southern hemisphere - as they approached the Auckland Islands. Le Cléac'h is 2.5 miles ahead and just two miles northeast of Gabart.

Style: Tri-deck luxury yacht

Accommodation: Up to 12 guests and 10 crew members

Tender and toys: Garaged

Drives: Shaft

Performance: Up to 26 knots

The new flagship tri-deck 155 Yacht is now build, and the first is set to splash in 2014. With a 4500 nautical mile range, this is the first ever semi-displacement, round bilge and long keel hull from Sunseeker, and the 155 presents the top European yards with a very real challenge.

François Gabard

Race time: 38 days, 3 hours

Position: 650 miles to New Zealand

Ranking: 1600hrs (French time)

The leader Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire) and Francois Gabart(MACIF) were just 6.3 miles apart after becoming the first two of the Vendée Globe skippers into the Pacific Ocean. It is more of a psychological than a physical line for the skippers, the point at which they begin to feel they are on the way home.

How quickly the hunter becomes the hunted. Francois Gabart (MACIF) re-took his lead on Wednesday morning, 15 hours after losing it to Armel Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire). They also both passed the halfway mark on the theoretical mileage for the race and seem destined to play cat and mouse round the world. Just as Armel The Jackal chewed his way to Gabart slowly, likewise Gabart fought his way back a mile every hour. Gabart is just 5.3 miles ahead of Le Cléac'h and only 20 miles to the north as they race in the direction of the Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand.

Race time: 37 days, 3 hours

Position: 50 miles to the East Australia gate

Ranking: 1600hrs (French time)

After 37 days 3 hours and 13,984.72 nautical miles of racing (as of 1500 UTC) Francois Gabart (MACIF) was just 15.8 miles ahead of Armel Le Cléac'h(Banque Populaire) at the front of the Vendée Globe. Behind them are three more private battles, races within the race, that have been going on almost since the start; Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss), Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat), Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel),  Mike Golding (Gamesa) and Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud), Javier Sansó (Acciona 100% EcoPowered).

The construction of YN 16650, Project Azuro, is progressing on schedule and is due for delivery in Spring 2014. Hull and superstructure were joined together on Saturday, 1st December at the Heesen facility in Oss, the Netherlands.

Project Azuro is the fourth in the 50-metre all-aluminium class. The first vessel in the class was the multi-award winning MY Satori (YN 15250), followed by YN 15850 (2011) and YN 16050, which is currently under construction and due for delivery in 2013.

Onboard the CNB 180 - Evoë, living and relaxing areas complete each other within the continuity of a same space. This concept results in an elegant and clean design associated with high performance hull lines. This fast cruising yacht is open to the sea and bathed in natural light: quality of life is the key word.

The vast flybridge has two steering stations and a saloon for "al fresco" evenings. Manoeuvres have been simplified and centralised so as to make the yacht easy to handle by a short crew.

Yesterday, taking advantage of the time, Bernard Stamm is proceeding to a few repairs.

The Vendée Globe is an endurance race. Nevertheless, it's looking more and more like a sprint. Better even, a record on distance covered within 24 hours race.

Extreme weather conditions in the Vendée Globe Global Challenge!

Watch Jean-Pierre Dick as he weathers the storm, on the Vibrac Paprec!

We can't yet say if another record of "miles within 24 hours" will be broken again in the next hours but rhythm hasn't slowed down at the lead of the Vendée globe.

François Gabart is leading the race. At the 4 pm check he was ahead of his alter ego Armel Le Cleac'h by 8 miles. François' performance doesn't cease to impress everyone, to the extent of raising the question. All the more so as he's doing the same as Michel Desjoyeaux, his mentor, did fourth years ago.

The Furious Fifties! Sounds like a dream! An adventure, what a thrill!

Well, the first have reached the Furious Fifties, this is what it sounds like on board.

A little detail, maybe, but today all competitors except Alessandro Di Benedetto and Arnaud Boissieres have made up a few miles on the leader. Even Tanguy De Le Motte, second before last, at 3230 miles or 6000 kilometers of François Gabart.

Imagine: You're in the middle of the South Atlantic, thousands of miles from the closest land, and you have to dive under your boat for over 30 minutes, in water that's at 12 degrees, where the ocean's depth is measured in kilometers. You don't have a choice, if you want to cut off the net that wound around your keel. Yesterday, that's what happened to Jean Le Cam.

Yesterday towards the end of the day Armel Le Cleac'h opened the festivities: a few hours after passing the Cape of Good Hope, he cut the Aiguilles cape longitude, synonym of entering the Indian Ocean.

At mid-day, after 24 days in the race, only 5 boats switched over from one ocean to the other... and keep up their fantastic cavalcade into the Roaring 40s.

Twenty-five days into the race, the competitors are now sailing in the Indian Ocean, which means five are still in the Atlantic South. Alessandro di Benedetto bringing up the rear, but not on the race's edge, so to say.

Race time: 13 days, 3 hours.

Position: 2,920 miles to the Cape of Good Hope.

Ranking: 1600hrs (French time)

 The Doldrums can continue to bite long after you have left them and Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) revealed on Friday that he has been struggling to keep pace in the lead group because he has been unable to use his genoa.

The large genoa sail would be the one out of the nine allowed in a skipper's sail wardrobe he would be using in these reaching conditions, with the boat heeled over 30 degrees.