After sailing halfway around the world, Armand Le Cleac’h and Francois Gabart still have each other in their sights as they set out on the second half of the Vendee Globe race.

Amazingly, Le’Cleac’h, in his yacht Banque Populaire, is barely three nautical miles clear of fellow Frenchman Gabart, in Macif, south of New Zealand and in heavy seas.

“It’s incredible, amazing,” Gabart enthused in a video link as he briefly saw the mast of his rival’s yacht emerge from among the swell and on the ship tracking technology.

“We’re keeping an eye on each other,” Le Cleac’h said, “I can see him on the AIS (automatic identification system).”

He said they were making progress in heavy seas and explained: “The wind has also got up, with gusts of up to 55 knots.”

With some 12,000 nautical miles to the finish at Les Sables-d’Olonne in western France, the fleet which began with 20 boats but has since been reduced to 13, has now been at sea for 40 days in what is widely regarded as the most prestigious race in the sport.

Another Frenchman, Jean-Pierre Dick, is a distant third, 524 nautical miles behind the leading pair.