MacArthur moves into third

Ellen MacArthur on dry land

British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur has celebrated Christmas by climbing to third place in the Vendee Globe race.

Rounding Cape Horn, and almost at the halfway stage of the solo round-the-world race, MacArthur is just over 270 nautical miles short of leader Michel Desjoyeaux.

Second-placed Roland Jourdain is 200 nautical miles away.

"I'm so happy to be in third place because I've had more problems," said MacArthur on Boxing Day.

"Yesterday

I missed my family and friends a lot today

  Ellen MacArthur

I spent three hours up the top of the mast, I even had some snow while I was up there.

Even over 12,000 miles from home, MacArthur was able to enjoy some seasonal cheer.

"I've opened my presents already and the best one was the weather forecast," she said via radio from her boat Kingfisher.

"I decorated the cabin and set fire to my grandmother's Christmas Pudding with some rum!

"I missed my family and friends a lot today."

The race takes the fleet south down the Atlantic Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and east around Antarctica.

They then get to the notorious Cape Horn, and back up the Atlantic to Les Sable d'Olonne on the west coast of France.