Knox-Johnston's Vendee Globe View - Tuesday 26 January

No one has rounded Cape Finisterre and entered the Bay of Biscay yet, for the last sprint to the finish at Les Sables. With less than 500 miles to go, there are still some tactics to play out. Charlie Dalin still holds the lead, 68 miles closer to the finish than Louis Burton in Bureau Vallée, who is showing only 6 miles in front of Boris Herrmann’s Seaexplorer-Yacht Club de Monaco. They have WSW winds currently 14-16 knots. Linked Out and Maître CoQ are showing 300 miles to the leader but that is misleading as they a some 200 miles further north and almost at the point they could lay their course directly to the finish line when they gybe as their wind is from the SW 16 knots. This race is going down to the wire and the good citizens of Les Sables, who always turn out to give a great welcome to the finishers, are not going to have time for more than a snack to eat between the first arrivals.

Pip Hare is averaging 12 knots up the coast of Brazil and Miranda Merron is extricating herself slowly from the South Atlantic High.