Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) has closed up on Desjoyeaux, who has hit the light-wind wall, but she in turn now has to look closely over both shoulders as Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear) and Roland Jourdain (Sill) are both up to full downwind speed and rolling up fast. “The motion has been truly horrible for most of the past 24 hours – really hard to move around, as we sail on a close reach with 20 to 30 knots of wind. It’s fast but extremely uncomfortable sailing,” she said.The first four boats are expected to close to within 200 miles of one another before the first to burst into the Trade Winds will move ahead again. But with many meteorological and tactical decisions still to be made, the Vendée Globe is coming home alive and kicking.. Whisper it softly lest it causes an avalanche of over-expectation, but Britain now has a winter sportsman capable of realising an Olympic dream. As he launches himself off an Austrian mountain this morning, Alain Baxter stands 10th in the world, an unprecedented ranking for a British skier, and heartening news for a nation still shivering in embarrassment under the piste-taking which followed the short-haul flights of Eddie Edwards.

Whisper it softly lest it causes an avalanche of over-expectation, but Britain now has a winter sportsman capable of realising an Olympic dream. As he launches himself off an Austrian mountain this morning, Alain Baxter stands 10th in the world, an unprecedented ranking for a British skier, and heartening news for a nation still shivering in embarrassment under the piste-taking which followed the short-haul flights of Eddie Edwards.
Baxter is our very own giant of the slalom. His progressive ascent in World Cup races this season – he was seventh in Wengen last weekend – suggests he might even be challenging for a podium place in Salt Lake City this time next year.His is a classic British winter sporting tale of teeth-gritting gumption. He had almost given up on a number of occasions because offinancial frustration, but he is now delighted he snow-ploughed on with a little help from his friends, plus the British Ski Federation and, for the past four years, Lottery funding. At present he is on £10,000 a year, which, while it helps keeps the wolf from the ski hut, has to be spent mainly on travel expenses and training gear.While his first name may have a Gallic ring about it, there is no French connection other than the fact that his mother and stepfather now run a ski school in Courcheval But Baxter’s background is strictly Caledonian. Edinburgh-born, he started out on skis as a two-year-old in Aviemore, and progressed via the Cairngorms Ski Club to the Scottish and British teams.For the past 10 years, virtually since he left school, he has spent eight months of every year competing or training, occasionally with the Finnish team. The summer months have been spent working back home in Aviemore as a gardener, fence-builder or labourer.

Until the Lottery funding, he quite often had to sleep in hotel corridors, because he couldn’t afford a room.”It’s been a hard slog,” he admitted. “Every bill was a nightmare and I’ve had to rely heavily on the goodwill of my bank manager But it’s all starting to pay off now I’ve been quite lucky, really. My mother never really wanted me to ski because of the terrific expense, and most of the young guys on the circuit are skint I know because my kid brother is one of them. Now for me skiing is a serious job.”So serious, in fact, that he has given up the chance to be a professional ice hockey player. He still turns out when he can on the wing for Perth Panthers in the Scottish first division, the last time in December when he was back home to celebrate his 27th birthday on Boxing Day He declined a trial with Paisley in the British League. “I’ve put so much into skiing there’s no point in throwing it away.”He also plays a bit of shinty, but from now until Salt Lake City his commitment to the slopes will be total.