In the lead up to Christmas it’s been a really rough week in the Vendée Globe.

We have seen two leaders have to slow or retire with serious damage and Yann Ellies has a broken leg from being washed down the foredeck.

To be seriously injured at sea is a solo skippers nightmare and all of the fleet will be mentally affected by this horrific accident. After Yann broke his leg, he managed to crawl back to the cockpit and raise the alarm.

He is currently waiting for a Australian navy frigate while Mark Guillmout onboard Safran stands by.

I hope they reach him soon and can get him quickly and safely out of his predicament.

Mike Golding had been sailing a blinding race and was rewarded by first place, a position he held for three hours before his mast came tumbling down.

The Vendée Globe is a harsh game sometimes and Mike did not deserve this but that’s the way it goes sometimes and when I spoke to Mike a few days ago he was very pragmatic about it.

The whole mast had gone over the side but Mike managed to save his boom.

He was aiming to make it to Perth where Ecover can be shipped home.

I really feel for Mike who had been sailing brilliantly, not pushing too hard but always fast and always sounded in good spirits and not too tired. I for one felt this could be his time before fate dealt another cruel blow.

Sam Davis on Roxy is now the leading British skipper having broken into the top ten and is heading east towards Generali in case she can be of assistance to Yann Ellies.

Sam has had a tough time too and yesterday was shifting some gear around under the cockpit of her boat when she was knocked unconscious for a few minutes.

Coming round and finding yourself under the cockpit of your boat while it is surfing at 25 knots down southern ocean waves can't have been a pleasant experience.

Sam is doing an amazing job in this race, sailing a 10-year-old boat and competing with boats a decade younger. Brian Thompson is only a 150Nm further back and is having a great personal battle with Sam.

Brian has been struggling to control the boat with his autopilot, another very scary situation for a Vendée skipper.

I managed to speak to Dee Caffari in the week and she is now up to 12th position on the track.

Herself and Aviva had to battle though 50 plus knots of wind earlier in the week and trying not to go too fast and break something.

Dee looked and sounded great despite having sailed through a near hurricane and obviously very tired, Aviva is performing well and Dee has maintained a very steady conscious all the time that something could break.

It’s been a tough week for all the racers in the Vendée Globe but none as tough as for Yann Ellies onboard Generali. My thoughts are certainly with him.