Ellen and Kingfisher increase lead again

POSITIONS IN MONOHULL fleet at 0716 GMT THURSDAY

1. KINGFISHER  708 miles to go 
2. SILL        +45 
3. WHIRLPOOL  +115 
4. TG4        +124 
5. SOLIDAIRES +157 

The tension mounts! Having had her lead cut down by Roland Jourdain (SILL) to just 2 miles yesterday afternoon, Ellen MacArthur managed to pull away again to take a 45 mile lead this morning. The fleet are traversing a large high pressure area that has moved across their path, and conditions have been light and testing since yesterday afternoon as the wind went light and aft.

Yesterday wasn't without drama again for Ellen, still nursing her injuries from her fall of the day before. Her report this morning reveals all...

I was trucking along on a reach, down below trying to get some sleep, when the boat suddenly came to a grinding halt - 9 tons going from 14 knots to zero is quite a motion, and very dangerous. I leapt up on deck and couldn't see immediately what had happened, then I saw it. A 15 foot whale I think, now sadly deceased, almost certainly on impact. I'm not sure what I was most concerned about when I saw what it - the boat or the whale. An inspection of the boat revealed no damage of immediate concern, but the whale faired less well. It was effectively stuck on the keel and bulb I think, and it took a few seconds for the boat to get free and off again...with this big ocean, its a shame I had to hit a poor whale.

For the first time it was warm in the afternoon, and I had a whole bunch of small birds onboard, chirping away. Sure sign that we are starting to close land again. I put on a favourite Scottish band of mine, Runrig, and for a moment life was really perfect. Ever since its been full on, the wind started to die and I spent most of the night helming under spinnaker. Managed to keep the boat going in 5 to 8 knots of wind, steering around all the shifts, and did my best ever gybe in the middle of the night! The most painful bit is having my headlamp on, as it sits right where I've cut myself. Very happy to have got away from SILL for the moment, it was worth working hard during the night. Its going to be very tricky now though, with a new low developing and an associated front that is hard to work out what to do with. These last 600 miles are going to be stressful for me!

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