Ellen MacArthur on standby from 1 September

Ellen MacArthur sat on the bow of her record breaking 75ft trimaran B&Q, New Jersey city in the background © David Brabyn / DPPI / Offshore Challenges

ELLEN MACARTHUR OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES STANDBY DATE FOR SOLO TRANSATLANTIC RECORD ATTEMPT...

Following the safe delivery of the 75-foot trimaran B&Q to New York earlier this week, Ellen MacArthur has announced her plans to officially go on standby from the 1st September for her assault on the west-east solo transatlantic record. The record currently stands at 6 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 37 seconds after French skipper, Francis Joyon, sailing his 90-foot multihull IDEC smashed the 11-year-old solo record by 22 hours on the 6th July this year. Joyon had previously held the fastest solo time around the world of 72 days, 22 hours and 54 minutes until a year later when MacArthur crossed the same finish line off Ushant to set a new time of 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds taking 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds off Joyon's time.

Now the stage is set for another showdown – can MacArthur achieve the extraordinary and break Joyon's solo transatlantic record? It is an almost over-whelming challenge in a boat that is 15-foot shorter and with a smaller sail area. MacArthur will have to race B&Q flat-out, riding one weather system across the 2925-mile North Atlantic course, with no margin for error.

MacArthur made the announcement whilst still in New York following the delivery trip from the UK via Newfoundland: "B&Q safely arrived in New York and since then we have been making final preparations to have her ready to go on standby from next Thursday, 1st September. She will be ready soon as will I but, for now, it is a case of sitting tight and waiting for the right weather system to come along that will get us across the North Atlantic in one go - these kind of weather systems don't appear that often so I will have to be patient but, then again, the clock is already ticking as we only have a standby window open until the end of October - after that I have to be back in Europe for another race."

The start line for the west-east solo transatlantic record is off Ambrose Light, approximately 20 miles outside New York habour with the finish line off Lizard Point on the south-west coast of England. The theorectical course distance is 2925 miles across the North Atlantic and MacArthur will have to average over 19.75 knots to break Joyon's time requiring a wind speed average of over 20 knots. "To be honest, it is a really tall order and Francis has again set an incredibly high benchmark but we will give it our best," said MacArthur. The B&Q skipper will be working with the same weather routers from her solo round the world record, Commanders' Weather based in the States: "We can only really seriously look at the weather up to 7 days ahead and if we see something developing, we will keep an eye on it and change our standby modes accordingly. Normally, you need to start just ahead of the advancing weather system then you hook into it and try and sail fast enough to stay with it, and hope that it takes you on the most direct and shortest course across the Atlantic. If the weather system deviates too much from the direct course it will not help our cause as we will have to sail more miles."

It is a bit like riding the 'perfect wave' – you must get on it at Ambrose Light and not fall off until the finish, and hope the wave goes all the way to the English Channel without tapering out or heading north which is what happened last June as B&Q missed out on the record by just 75 minutes. Unlike the round the world record, where all types of wind strength are guaranteed, light conditions at the Equator, for example (in which B&Q probably performs better than Joyon's IDEC due to her light weight), and strong conditions in the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic (where IDEC performs better due to her size and power), on the transatlantic it is only possible to break the record if there are strong conditions all the way. So any advantage of the newer B&Q does not exist for this mad six-day sprint.

And this time MacArthur is not the only player... Also waiting in the wings is another French skipper, Thomas Coville and his 60-foot trimaran Sodebo. After establishing a new Miami-New York solo record in July, Coville has been on standby in New York since the beginning of August and there is every possibility that Sodebo and B&Q will end up starting together both grabbing the same weather system when it comes along.

MacArthur will not sit-out the standby period in New York but will return to Europe and monitor the weather situation daily, only returning to the States once a favourable weather system has been identified.

The solo transatlantic record must be broken by a minimum of 60 seconds, therefore B&Q must finish in a time of 6 days, 4 hours, 0 minutes and 37 seconds or less.

STANDBY MODES: WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

RED: No obvious weather window in sight
AMBER: 60 to 70% chance of departure in next 72 hours
GREEN: Intention to depart within 36 hours

HISTORY OF PREVIOUS SOLO TRANSATLANTIC RECORD ATTEMPTS:

Crewed Records:

In 1905, Charlie Barr and his crew raced the 185-foot schooner 'Atlantic 2', across the North Atlantic in a record time of 12 days, 4 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds - this time would stand for another 75 years!

It was the era of multihulls in the 1980s that really took this record's history to a new level - Eric Tabarly took two days off Charlie Barr's record on board his foil trimaran 'Paul Ricard' at an average speed of 11.93 knots. Through the 1980s this record was improved upon by by the French multihull racers through the 1980s: Marc Pajot, Patrick Morvan, Loïc Caradec, Philippe Poupon and, finally, Serge Made on board Jet Services V. Jet Services V set a crewed record of 6 days, 13 hours and 3 minutes in 1990 that was to stand for 11 years. But it was Playstation, the world's largest catamaran at the time, which smashed this record in 2001. Playstation skipper, Steve Fossett, and his crew covered the distance in just 4 days, 17 hours and 28 minutes! An unimaginable time, that is still proving hard to beat as Bruno Peyron and his crew found onboard Orange II found out last summer when they failed to break Fossett's record by just 30 minutes.

In the monohull division, it is the 140-foot schooner, Mari-Cha IV who holds the record for the fastest passage across the North Atlantic in a monohull. Owner Robert Miller and his crew of 24, passed the Lizard Point in October 2003 in a time of 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds at an average speed of 18.05 knots.

Solo Records:

For the history of single-handed transatlantic record attempts the multihulls are just as dominant and the best place to begin is with the Frenchman Bruno Peyron on board the trimaran Ericsson. In 1987, he established a record time of 11 days, 11 hours and 46 minutes although that same year, Philippe Poupon reduced the time to 10 days and 9 hours. It was eight years later before Laurent Bourgnon broke the 10-day barrier on board the 60-foot trimaran Primagaz. During this record attempt, Bourgnon achieved a 24-hour record and a transatlantic record of 7 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes and 42 seconds that was to remain untouched for 11 years. After Ellen MacArthur’s unsuccessful attempt in 2004, the honour now lies with the Frenchman Francis Joyon on board his 90ft trimaran, IDEC. On 6 July, 2005, Joyon smashed the record by 22 hours. His 90ft trimaran also managed to break Bourgnon’s existing 24-hour distance setting a new record of 543 miles at an average speed of 22.6 knots.

CURRENT RECORD HOLDER:

Solo west-east transatlantic record:
Francis Joyon: IDEC (90ft Trimaran)
30 June-6 July 2005
6d 4h 1m 37s
Average speed of 19.75 knots over a theoretical course of 2925 miles

24-hour solo record:
Francis Joyon: IDEC (90ft Trimaran)
3 July 2005
543 miles
Average speed 22.62 knots