Vendee Globe, solo, non-stop, around-the-world-race sailor Yann Elies was carrying out manoeuvres on the bow when he fractured his thighbone.

Resting on the pulpit, as he was preparing a sail, his Open 60, Generali, came to a brutal standstill slamming into a wave. The sailor felt a sudden acute pain. He collapsed on the foredeck and had to crawl back inside his boat to contact his team. According to the initial diagnosis from Dr. Jean-Yves Chauve, the race doctor, Yann is suffering from a broken thighbone.

Generali, is hove to,currently 800 miles south of Australia in the Indian Ocean. The Australian emergency services were immediately alerted and are looking at ways to get Yann off as quickly as possible.

While he waits to be taken off his boat, following a request from the race directors, fellow Vendee sailor Marc Guillemot has changed course in order to offer him some moral assistance. Safran was only a hundred miles from Generali at the time.