FIRST it was Christmas on their own – now Hampshire’s brave round-the-world sailors are seeing the new year in alone.

Having already spent 52 days at sea in the gruelling Vendée Globe race, the remaining four ocean racers have been battling though unpredictable weather as they try to fight their way out of the Southern Ocean.

Mulling over possible new year’s resolutions, Titchfield’s Dee Caffari said: “Every year I aim to stop biting my nails but that’s never happened and I’m not sure that being down here with all this stress is the best time to be trying that again.

“I could do with some sunshine though because I need to get out on deck and patch up my mainsail because it is falling apart.

“It needs to come down but to do that I need it to be sunny.”

Caffari’s spirits were momentarily lifted earlier in the week when Wellington-based Westpac Rescue winchman Dave Greenberg arranged a special fly-by to keep with the tradition of Caffari’s previous circumnavigations when she passes New Zealand.

She said: “It was awesome to hear a familiar voice and see people in the plane even if I could not see their actual faces.

“It was quite murky still and the wind was gusty but I sat on deck grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“It was very cool and it seems that I’m destined not to pass New Zealand without a visit from Dave in either a plane or a helicopter.”

Click here to see Dee's helicopter visit

She added: “Despite the weather I am really enjoying this. I can’t believe I am half way round the world in 50 days. It is really cool doing it this fast.”

Leading the Britpack is Hamble’s Sam Davies in seventh who has kept a hold on Frenchman Jean-Pierre Dick in sixth.

Davies suffered a minor setback after colliding with an underwater object which hit one of her rudders.

“It has a nice war wound to show for the impact, but nothing serious.

“Unfortunately it was the rudder that I had already repaired once, so I had to do some unbolting and DIY before I could put a new fuse in and get it back down.

“This took a little while, and caused the usual drenching in the back of the boat with my head underwater as the waves broke into my workspace.

“I rebolted the thing back together, all in 25 knots of wind and the pitch black of course.”

Lymington’s Brian Thompson was around 580 miles behind Davies in ninth with Jonny Malbon from Southampton over 2,000 miles behind in 13th.

Only 16 of the 30 starting skippers are still in the race, the others forced to retire through boat damage or injury.

Hampshire’s Alex Thomson was forced to cancel his bid four days into the race due to structural damage to his hull while Mike Golding was left with no option but to quit when his mast snapped just hours after he took the lead.