Francis Joyon sailing his 98ft trimaran IDEC is hoping to make it into Brest on Sunday or Monday. His boat – 22ft longer than Ellen MacArthur’s B&Q, whose 71 day solo, round-the-world record he is after – has taken a pounding.

Joyon said: ‘After the problems with my staysail yesterday, I can see the boat is clearly showing signs of fatigue; I’ve lost confidence in my spectra lashings and I can see that they are working loose everywhere.’

After 25,000 miles clocked up at high speed, Joyon and his giant multihull still have a lead of some 2,900 miles over Ellen MacArthur’s passage. Breaking the symbolic barrier of completing the round the world voyage in less than 60 days remains, if all goes well, still within his grasp.