‘I’m super-happy to still be in the race – it could easily have been the end for me’ – Vendee Globe sailor Alex Thomson

But the Gosport-based sailor is having to play catch-up after three days of making repairs to his £5.5m Hugo Boss yacht.

Having led the fleet for much of the race prior to discovering the damage, the 46-year-old was tonight down in eighth place - around 530 nautical miles adrift of leader Charlie Dalin, who in turn was just over nautical miles in front of Thomas Ruyant.

However, with the race only around a fifth of the way through, and more than 19,000 miles still to go, the opportunity to rejoin the leading pack is still very much alive.

‘It’s obviously disappointing but I’m not going to dwell on the negatives here because I think there are way more positives,’ said Thomson.

‘It’s positive that I found it before it was catastrophic, it’s positive that it happened in the conditions it happened in, which meant the leaders and the rest of the fleet weren’t moving away at 500 miles a day.

‘So I’m just super happy that I’m still in the race. It could so easily have been the end of the race for me.’

In the last Vendee Globe, in 2016/17, Thomson finished in second place despite suffering irreparable damage to his hydrofoil just 12 days into the race.

‘I’ve been here before, and all you can do is get back on your feet and keep pushing forwards,’ he remarked.

‘Looking at the weather, the next few days are going to be quite light, so good conditions for me to finish the job.’

Portsmouth-born Samantha Davies was 10th, around 570 nautical miles adrift of Dalin.