ELLEN MacArthur has moved into second place in the Vendee Globe race amid the icebergs of the Southern Ocean.

In a gybing duel, it was the 24-year-old from Cowes aboard Kingfisher who moved into second place ahead of Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines - La Potagre).

MacArthur was delighted to hear that she had overtaken Jourdain and maintained higher average speeds than both him and race leader Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB) for several hours. She is currently 139 miles behind Desjoyeaux.

It was as if she has been wisely waiting for her moment to attack.

With 140 miles gained against Jourdain in just a few days, MacArthur now must consolidate her tenuous 11-mile lead with continuously superior boat speed.

MacArthur said: "We have to go north now, so I am at an advantage in terms of the next waypoint."

The young sailor has a fantastic boat for upwind conditions.

She said before the start that if she was not more than 200 miles from the leading boat at Cape Horn, she could have a chance of getting ahead, recalling her victory in the Europe 1 New Man Star last June.

But the Derbyshire-born star is having to be vigilant.

The water temperature had dropped to 0.8 degrees celsius, and she is sailing in the heart of iceberg country.

MacArthur said: "When the third, fourth, fifth and sixth iceberg all appeared in a line with just a mile between them I began to be bewildered at their frequency.

"Knowing they are mainly radar-invisible floating about is a worrying thing.

"It's freezing cold, but my eyes are glued to the water for submerged icebergs."

Southampton's Mike Golding is lying 13th in Team Group 4, but has been having problems with batteries on board his boat.

He explained: "The battery was low on water so I replaced it, I added two and a half litres of water, quite a lot, and it definitely had an immediate effect."

This has not completely resolved the problem and Golding is economising still by shutting the communication systems down for long periods of time.

However, Golding has rarely slowed down in the last few days, and should catch a stronger depression very shortly to further propel him towards the next set of boats.