On day 40 of Ellen MacArthur’s global speed challenge she’s now 3 days, 11 hours and 29 minutes ahead of Francis Joyon’s current record time. And approximately 2,600 miles west of Cape Horn clocking doing an average boat speed of 21.87 knots (heading E by N) in wind speeds of 25.4 knots from the north-west.

MacArthur has spent the last three days battling with the elements and been tested to the limit. Chatting from the boat this morning she said: “The last three days of sailing have been undoubtedly the worst of my career. Never before have I experienced winds more unstable, more aggressive, more unpredictable. My body has been pushed beyond its limits, once again I found myself screaming at the heavens. I am sure that I have never been as tired as that in my life.”

She continued: “The breeze is obviously kicking in and although at the moment things are fine in 24 hours it really is not going to be fine and I just wish I had had more time to recover. Problem once we get through this, and out the other side, it’s going to be a southerly breeze so its going to be unstable again. Hopefully, not as bad as before but it’s not going to be great. But the problem is, we risk getting caught by this front but, anyway, I’ve just got to deal with it day by day and hope we can come through relatively unscathed.”