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Over 24 hours of intense work has left the inside of Louis BURTON's IMOCA Bureau Vallée in a mess but the third placed skipper confirmed this morning that his efforts, in collaboration with his shore team, have kept him in the race. Speaking on the 0400hrs TU call this morning, after he had just gybed at the Antarctic Exclusion Zone he said, "I'm pretty burnt out and I admit that I came close to having to abandon". True to the philosophy of many competitors BURTON was not giving everything away about his problems, other than having said earlier that he had automatic pilot troubles.

The three Vendée Globe leaders have the foot hard down on the accelerator, racing behind this low pressure system and so making good speeds and opening up the gap back to the chasing peloton which is now more than 200 miles behind. Charlie DALIN is doing his best to contain the highly motivated Thomas RUYANT who works constantly to find best speeds from his compromised IMOCA which lacks most of its port foil and Yannick BESTAVEN remains super quick. And now seven IMOCA's have crossed the longitude of Cape LEEUWIN, young Ben DUTREUX - the rookie from the Vendée region - is very happy to have crossed fourth.

Following a violent collision last Wednesday evening, British Vendee Globe skipper Sam DAVIES (Initiatives-Cœur) sustained significant damage to the framework supporting the keel of her IMOCA. In consultation with her team, she made the decision to stop in Cape Town (South Africa).This morning as she arrived in Cape Town she confirmed by video at 0900hrs UTC that she is officially retiring from the race. But she says she is determined to return - after making repairs with her team and experts - to complete the race course as 'hors course', unclassified on the solo race which forbids any kind of outside assistance.

The team at ARKEA PAPREC and French skipper Sébastien SIMON have confirmed he has abandoned his Vendée Globe. Last Wednesday morning at 0820hrs UTC his IMOCA hit a floating object and badly damaged his starboard foil and its housing. The boat has had a steady ingress of water which SIMON has largely dealt with. But with repairs seeming to be extremely complicated and probably requiring the foil to be cut into pieces, Simon and his team made the tough decision that he will give up. SIMON is on his way to Cape Town. He should reach the South African bay overnight from Saturday to Sunday.

British skipper Sam DAVIES informed her team that her IMOCA Initiatives Coeur had struck a floating object at around 1900hrs UTC this evening. She is heading north at reduced speed and will inspect her boat to assess the damage and discuss actions with her team. Sam DAVIES is unhurt.