Annals of Adventure–Ellen’s In The Record Hunt: The round-the-world sailing record season is over, but the North Atlantic record-breaking season is just beginning. And first to go on stand-by is Ellen MacArthur, on her brand, spanking new 75-foot trimaran, B&Q (hmm, not quite as evocative a name as Kingfisher). The boat was designed by multihull maestro (and all-around great guy) Nigel Irens, and built in Australia. It has one purpose and one purpose only: to mow down solo sailing record after solo sailing record. The big three are the transatlantic record from Ambrose Light, NYC to The Lizard at the entrance to the English Channel, the 24-hour distance record, and the round-the-world record. All of them are going to require some intense sailing to beat. The transat solo record is owned by Laurent Bourgnon, who in 1994 sailed the course in 7 days, 2.5 hours. Along the way, Bourgnon sailed 540 miles in a 24-hour period, which was such a monster number that for 4 years it was the outright 24-hour record for ANY boat, solo or crewed. And the RTW record was just smashed this year by Francis Joyon, in a time of 73 days.

A lot of armchair sailors think that with that time Joyon put the record out of reach for years, but no one should ever underestimate the sheer grit, skill and determination of the 5′ 2″ Derbyshire dynamo. Ellen has already sailed B&Q halfway around the world as a shakedown, and the boat has loped along at 20-30 knots in the right conditions. The hard part is balancing speed and sleep in such a demanding multihull. Ellen only slept an average of 3 hours during her solo delivery from the Falklands to the United States. Is that enough in a boat where one mistake can flip you upside down? There’s no obvious weather window on the horizon so Ellen will probably be on standby in New York at least until Monday. But it won’t be long before we’ll find out what you get when you pair one of the world’s best solo sailors with the most hi-tech solo sailing machine ever built…



Ellen’s Speed Machine: ” Hi, Mom. I’m in New York, but I should be home in about a week…”