Fossett to attempt transat record this Saturday

but tells madforsailing he will be giving up yachting after September

The world's largest racing catamaran will set off this Saturday in an attempt to break the elusive west to east transatlantic record between New York and the Lizard.

This will be the fourth occasion American millionaire Steve Fossett has set out to break Jet Services V's 11 year old record aboard his maxi-catamaran PlayStationand it will be his last as with Sony Europe's sponsorship coming to an end he has put PlayStation up on the market for $3.5 million and plans, for the time being at least, to get out of yachting.

"It was a three year programme and the three years is up on 30 September when the sponsorship runs out," Fossett told madforsailing. "I've decided to move on." It seems that even if another major sponsor came on board Fossett has other plans in the sky rather than on the water, although he says that anything is possible. "I don't want to rule anything out, but the boat is definitely for sale. I don't have a plan right now after PlayStation. I'm tremendously interested in sailing, but I don't know what the future holds."

Fossett's original reason for building PlayStation was to set a new record for the Jules Verne Trophy, the ultimate non-stop fully crewed round the world record. Reading between the lines, Fossett seems to be unhappy with the amount of time it has taken to get his 125ft long catamaran to a state where she is reliable enough to endure the rigours of a round the world record attempt. He has not even set out on the Jules Verne in PlayStation and one gets the impression of a man cutting his losses. "It's a disappointment not to have got the round the world record in the last year. I thought we would easily have the boat working well and reliable enough to break the round the world record, but we're still trying to get the boat to its full preparedness. That is the only disappointment - we'll end up turning it over to someone else to do the Jules Verne."

Despite the new generation of 100ft plus maxi catamarans being the fastest, most exciting boats in the world, since the end of The Race there has been precious little actions on any of them. Fossett says this is because of their cost and because there is no programme organised for them. "They are expensive boats to run. It does require sponsorship and for there to be sponsorship there has to be a sponsor objective. There was The Race. The next most logical thing for these boats is to go for the round the world record." He cites Olivier de Kersauson, currently holder of the Jules Verne Trophy, who has a new giant trimaran, due for launch later this month as someone who has the Jules Verne as their sponsor's objective. De Kersauson plans to use his giant tri to better his record over this winter.

The transatlantic record will more or less be the swan song for PlayStation's racing programme under Fossett's ownership. However before the sponsorship runs out he planning attempts on some shorter, local records in the UK. In particular there is the possibility of winning back his round the Isle of Wight record, recently taken off him by Francis Joyon during the Hoya Round the Island Race. There is also the Cowes-St Malo record currently held by Tracy Edwards' female crew on Royal & SunAlliance.

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