Graphic: Thomson's voyage round the globe

The 30 sailors who will head off on the sixth Vendée Globe race from Les Sables d’Olonne, on the west coast of France, on Sunday were making final preparations for their non-stop solo circumnavigation, but for two of the seven-strong British contingent yesterday was a fraught day.

Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss re-entered the water only last weekend after a frantic repair job on the boat, which had been hit by an errant fishing vessel three weeks ago. Structurally, the boat appears to be fine after four days of sea trials, but Thomson’s team discovered that the main halyard, or rope, was chafing against an alloy plate within the mast.

The plate had become corroded during the time that the mast spent on the sea bed after it was felled in the accident. In order to smooth the plate, Thomson’s team hit on an ingenious solution, winding halyards covered in hard jackets up and down the mast for 12 hours continuously.

The effort by a ten-man team working one-hour shifts on the grinders resulted in the halyard being hoisted 1,800 times, or about half the work it would be expected to do during the 26,000-mile round-the-world trip. The team reported last night that the operation had been a success and the now polished plate was no longer chafing the rope.

Meanwhile, Steve White, another Briton, was racing against time to get his boat, Toe in the Water, ready. White, from Dorchester, Dorset, obtained sponsorship for his venture less than two weeks ago and now has two days to ensure that his “eleventh-and-a-half-hour entry” is ready in time.

“We are making progress all the time,” he said yesterday. “The big step for us today was going sailing for the first time with the new sails. The most noticeable thing with the new main \ is that it just showed up how ultimately shocking the old one was.”

White, 35, who qualified for the Vendée after completing the Artemis Transat race this year, has struggled to attract sponsorship but last month a consortium of private backers agreed to fund him in exchange for him carrying branding for the Toe in the Water charity, which helps with the rehabilitation of injured servicemen and women.

“We arrived in Les Sables d’Olonne in October, unsure as to whether we could even keep hold of my family’s home, let alone sail alone around the world,” White said. “With these new funds, we can finish the necessary preparations.”

As well as testing his sails, White has to plumb in his generator, fix the satellite system and tackle a leak in his ballast valves.

The boats will head into strong breezes right from the start of the race on Sunday. Winds gusting to 40 knots are expected with a choppy sea around the start.