SYDNEY, Dec 21 (Reuters) - An Australian frigate plucked injured French yachtsman Yann Elies to safety from the Indian Ocean on Saturday after he fractured his leg while sailing in a round-the-world race.

Elies, a 34-year-old Breton, was competing in the Vendee Globe round-the-world solo yacht race when a large wave struck his yacht late on Thursday while he was changing sails, throwing him to the deck and breaking his left femur and several ribs.

In pain and unable to handle his boat, Elies managed to drag himself into his cabin, send a call to his team for help and lie on his bunk while awaiting rescue, his team manager said.

Australia's defence ministry said the frigate Arunta found Elies aboard his 60-foot yacht Generali late on Saturday, about 850 miles from Australia's west coast.

The Arunta launched an inflatable boat whose crew boarded the Generali and managed to transfer the injured yachtsman to the Arunta, where a doctor confirmed that he had broken his left femur and several ribs.

Marc Guillemot, a competitor who changed course to try to help Elies, praised the seamanship and efficiency of the Australian rescue operation.

"The Australian sailors ... showed that they are real professionals, they carried out the rescue in outstanding style," said Guillemot.

Race officials quoted the doctor as saying that Elies was "very happy" to see his rescuers, and that he was being kept under observation until the frigate reached port, where he would be taken to hospital.

The doctor, from Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service, gave Elies emergency treatment after his rescue, the defence ministry said in a statement.

On Elies' website (www.generali-voile.com), the race's official doctor, Jean-Yves Chauve, said Australian doctor David McIlroy had confirmed a fracture of the left femur, which had been put under traction, and several fractured ribs.

Despite his ordeal, he had been able to eat and drink and had telephoned his wife.

Members of Elies' team were on the way to Australia to try to retrieve the Generali, which the Australians left with sails partly set and hatches battened down. (Editing by Tim Pearce) (Sydney newsroom +61 2 93731800)

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