Ellen's diary: Log four

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

All is well on board Foncia this morning.

A long night, where Alain and I slept for a long period - a good three hours each, which I think has put us in good stead for days to come.

This time tomorrow, we will be entering into the Doldrums - all being well - and we'll need our sleep!

The question of where to cross is a real brain-teaser - the east or west - though to be honest, both options are rather east!

The air is very humid, and sleeping inside is hot and quite uncomfortable - who'd have thought that just five days ago, we were in the cold and windy English Channel - incredible.

Uncertain future

Though our progress has been good, it is evident that very soon we could stop quite hard.

We will see - there is no point in being pessimistic.

We must just be realistic - we are about to play the lottery.

Last night, I had a wonderful session at the helm, where the wind came up to 28 knots - a strange misty night sky enveloped us, though the stars were just visible.

We creamed along at well over 20 knots in what began life last night as a flat sea...

Time to pull up the latest weather info, the sun is up - it's soon my watch, and we're getting closer and closer!

Ellen