 Elies suffered a leg break after a huge wave slammed into his yacht, Generali
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The Australian Navy has launched an operation to rescue Yann Elies after he broke his leg in the Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race.
A rescue boat with a doctor on board has been sent, but it is not expected to reach 34-year-old French skipper Elies until Saturday at the earliest.
A statement from the organisers said Elies's condition is stable.
"[His] spirits and mood have lifted knowing help is with him and on its way," it continued.
Fellow competitor Marc Guillemot changed course to meet Elies and is poised to remain nearby until the arrival of the HMAS Arunta.
"Marc Guillemot has attempted several times to throw water, food and medication down the companionway hatch to his stricken fellow skipper, but it has so far proven too difficult for Yann to grab them," said the race organisers.
Thirty yachts began the race, held every four years, from the French Atlantic port of Les Sables d'Olonne on 9 November, but 12 have now withdrawn.
Elies had to drag himself into the cabin to activate the yacht's autopilot after breaking his thighbone in a fall that occurred n the Southern Ocean about 800 nautical miles south of the Australian coast.
The Frenchman, who was in eighth place, will now await the frigate which set sail from the western port of Fremantle.
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