Ellen MacArthur took the lead in the Route du Rhum single-handed sailing race as the weather forced yet more retirements.

MacArthur's Kingfisher took over at the head of the monohull fleet heading towards Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, moving ahead of Mike Golding's Ecover which broke its daggerboard on Wednesday.

Golding, who is now five miles behind, is repairing his damaged boat.

The two leading boats are increasing their lead over the following boats and have about 350 miles to go to reach the archipelago of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

Their closest rival, Roland Jordain on Sill, is heading to Madeira for a short pit stop to repair his torn main sail, which was damaged by a gust on Wednesday.

The race is over for Conrad Humphreys on Hellomoto, who alerted the race committee at 0100 GMT on Thursday that his 40-footer had dismasted. He is now heading to land.

Loick Peyron's Fujifilm is being attended to by firefighters after the Frenchman set off the distress beacon on Wednesday night as his dismasted trimaran began falling apart.

Marc Guillemot on Biscuits la Trinitaine is now leading the blue riband multihull category after former leader Thomas Coville's Sodebo vessel slowed because of broken battens.

The capsized boats of Francis Joyon's Eure et Loir and the Sopra Group were expected to be recovered on Thursday morning.