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Cape Horn - At 1810 GMT, with a helicopter and navy tug en route and a tanker standing by, it would have been a matter of hours before additional help arrived on scene of Jean Le Cam's capsized Vendee Globe boat, but that was too long to wait.  As Vincent Riou circled the capsized VM Matériaux, Jean Le Cam climbed out of the boat and into the water, wearing a survival suit for protection from the icy seas.  After the fourth pass, Le Cam was able to board PRB safely.  Unfortunately, Vincent's boat was damaged in the rescue.

Cape Horn - At 0026 GMT, while Vendee Globe sailor Jean Le Cam was calling his team back in France to tell them that VM Matériaux was at serious risk of capsizing, the sat phone went dead.  The distress beacon on Le Cam's IMOCA 60 was then triggered at 0140 GMT.  Hoping for the best, the race committee has begun rescue operations and has routed Armel Le Cléac’h of Brit Air and Vincent Riou on PRB to the scene.  The first should reach the area at around 1300 GMT.

At the start of both Vendee Globe week nine and the new year, we find the leaders of the fleet sailing around the most feared and famous navigational landmark in the world:  Cape Horn.  Michel Desjoyeaux, currently in the lead, was the first around that wicked dagger of land at 0310 GMT this morning, with Roland Jourdain close behind and keeping up the pressure.

Honolulu, Hawaii - The Chinese junk sailboat Princess TaiPing was built to replicate traditional Chinese ocean-going vessels, as well as their sailing voyages. It is a project developed, in part, to quiet any skepticism that Chinese boats could actually travel across vast oceans as early as the Ming Dynasty. Since launching just one year ago, the Princess TaiPing's small crew have proven that indeed it can be done, as they have followed in the wake of (and proven to be as tough as) the sailors of centuries ago.

Though it seems hard to believe, YachtPals is now one year old, and we wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you.  There's been a lot about YachtPals in the news lately, including the Wall Street Journal, MSN, USA Today, and others.  We won an award as one of the top start-up sites of 2008, and have been nominated for others.  This is all great, and we're certainly happy about it, but what we enjoy the most are the comments, messages and emails of support we've received from you, telling us how much you enjoy the site, and YachtPals' friendly "vibe," because so do we!