Close to disaster
By Ellen MacArthur BBC Sport Online

Ellen MacArthur updates her experiences in the Route du Rhum. On Friday, she nearly had to retire, but survived to extend her lead in the monohull class.

It was nearly all over.

I was in the cockpit when I suddenly noticed that there was something wrong with the runner (which holds up the mast).

I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked to the back of the boat. The pin that the runner attaches to on the stern was hanging on by a few millimetres.

One more wave and it would have come out. And bang, that would have been the end of my race.

I'm a bit tired, but I'm hanging in there. I made the right tactical decisions last night and they've paid off.

The wind has now dropped from 40-50 knots to around 20-25 knots.

I'll put the kite (spinnaker) up tonight, for sure, but I don't want to overdo it. Right now, I need to sort the sails out after the big storm.

It will be nice to have the kite up. I just want to get settled, get the right sails up and then I'll get more sleep.

Some of my equipment is not working, it took real wave damage.

I'll take a look at antenna when its a bit quieter, but there's stil too much spray around.