Ellen's diary: Log three

Sailing star Ellen MacArthur is writing a daily diary for BBC Sport Online throughout her latest race, the Transat Jacques Vabre.

All is well onboard Foncia on Thursday morning, though we did have a slightly nervy and long night.

We managed to skirt the west of the Canaries and put some distance betweeen us and our nearest challenger Fuji.

So for the moment Foncia leads the race, though we have our 15 minute penalty today, and there is still a long, long, long way to go.

And anything could happen with the doldrums.

Scary moments

As I sit in the cabin we are experiencing a fantastic breeze. Right now we are sailing at almost 20 knots and on a completely flat sea. 

There is the noise of the water passing the hull, though every minute or so it stops for a while.

A new phenomenon that you become accustomed to with multi-hulls is that if pressed hard, quite often you are flying on two hulls.

And the middle one, in which we live, is completely airborne.

With someone else on board it is not so bad, but I can only imagine that if you are alone it must wake you up with your heart in your mouth. 

It only takes a wind change of a few degrees, or a slight gust to create lift - these really are the at the extreme end of performance machines.

It was a great sight to see Belgacom's navigation light, first ahead, by the side and then behind us.

We went our separate ways before sunrise this morning. 

Sail changes were numerous during Wednesday evening, and an interesting tactical situation lies ahead.

Misfortune

There are many light airs, and there remains the question: "Where do we try to cross the equator?"

Strangely, it is often the case that things become clearer as time moves on.

I think we're hoping that the solution will become apparent soon - hopefully in the form of a nice steady easterly breeze!

It's been a hard night for the others in the fleet too. 

I read the news about Casto-Darty-But, and felt for the guys.

In most ocean racing you seem to have your fair share of bad luck, and the guys seem to have had theirs now.

Let's hope they can concentrate on getting to the finish with good breeze and speed. 

It could happen to any of us, and the finish is still a long way off.

Later,
An airborne Ellen