Gipsy Moth IV is now 180 miles south-west of Ushant still motor-sailing on the wind as the north-easter which has dogged her progress across Biscay has not relented.

Skipper John Jeffrey said: ‘The weather is overcast with, for the first time on this leg, some light rain. We plan to top up the aft fuel tank from the deck cans this afternoon now that the seas have subsided.’

Meanwhile Plymouth is eagerly preparing for her arrival on Monday 28th – exactly 40 years to the day that Francis Chichester arrived from his solo circumnavigation. Pub landlords are hauling up signs which read: ‘Welcome home Gipsy Moth’.