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With two French skippers and one British skipper making up the top three, the next arrival looks set to be the Swiss sailor, Dominique WAVRE. His current ETA given the latest weather analysis is for between 02h00 and 0400 GMT tomorrow morning, French skipper Sébastien JOSSE is due to arrive around ten hours later between 12h00 and 14h00 GMT.

Third placed Mike GOLDING took part in the live radio session today and will be bidding a fond farewell to the locals tomorrow after seeing in Wavre and Josse in.

Dominique WAVRE (Temenos) is set to reach Les Sables d'Olonne in fourth position in the early hours of tomorrow, exhausted by a testing end to the race. 'I have a little wind now, but with head seas. I suffered a great deal overnight. There were squalls everywhere, the boat broaching. I have really had my work cut out. I tacked a dozen times and took in some reefs. This zone in the middle of the Bay of Biscay was very unsettled so I was forced to tack all night. To be honest, I am worn out. I am going to try and sleep because I'm rather a sorry sight. The wind is easing but I hope it will hold. Though the wind eases, the waves are such that the boat doesn't make any more progress. I'm trying not to be too hard on the boat so as to be sure it can take the pace until the end. It should calm down relatively quickly but at the moment the seas are exceptionally crossed and chaotic. I feel like I'm in the Raz Blanchard, (a stretch of water between Cherbourg and the Alderney with wind over tide and the strongest currents in Europe). When you have headwinds there, the waves are massive. It's quite impressive to see the seas as built up as that.'

The Swiss skipper then confirms that the 'end of this race has been a little intense. The boat is very tired. I'll be happy to be able to park it up in the car park. It's mainly for my boat that I'll be pleased to finish, but also for my team who must be very tired too.'

Due to reach the finish some ten hours after Wavre tomorrow, Sébastien JOSSE, who apologised for not doing today's radio chat session, 'I am unable to come to do the interview as I am helming'. British sailor Mike GOLDING, did have some encouragement for him today however. 'I believe Sébastien to be in a unique position. Prior to hitting the growler he sailed the most fantastic race. He is on an old boat with a number of various problems. His performance was truly exceptional and he was over and above anybody else. Following the incident with the growler he fell back 15/20 miles behind and suddenly that just escalated to a 1000 mile deficit on us in the space of four days. It changed the way I sailed through the Pacific and it made me realise how lucky I had been not to drop right back as a result of losing just a mere handful of miles.'

Mike also spoke of the respect he and others like him have for his compatriot Conrad HUMPHREYS on Hellomoto. 'Yours is a great result given the problems you've had' Mike said of Conrad today. 'You have everyone's respect. Conrad is sailing my first boat - a Finot design - It was built at JMV in Cherbourg and I'm very proud of it. Had Conrad found backing sooner he would have been better prepared and suffered fewer problems. The problem is that for anyone to do the next Vendée Globe the job really begins now. Time is one thing you can't buy.'

2338.7 miles from the finish Conrad HUMPHREYS is currently 15.6 miles ahead of Joé SEETEB making a creditable 11.4 knot average over the past four hours, though the French skipper looks set to make up some ground on him with around 2 knots more boat speed over the past four hours. Just over 600 miles behind Conrad, American skipper Bruce SCHWAB is averaging a fairly good 10 knots having escaped the Doldrums earlier today. He is currently 2946.3 miles from the finish.