"It's going to be tough"

Steve Fossett previews PlayStation's Cowes-St Malo record attempt

madforsailing: Tell us about the timing of the start

Steve Fossett: It is going to be tough at the start because we need to be able to make it out of the Solent without tacking, because there is so much time lost in tacking. So we're waiting for the wind to come north of west enough so that we can get out or at least get out with just one tack. And we're going to start on the north end of the start line so we can have our best chance of minimising tacks. We could come back into the Channel about two miles from the Squadron, but that has it's own dangers. If we start over by the Bramble Bank it is hard to turn around in there and get the traveller pulled up to power up the boat. So that's what we're debating.

mfs: What are the tidal implications?

SF: The best tide situation is to start at 0400 in the morning, but we don't think we'll have the wind angle that early. If we start at 0600 it'll still be pretty good. We'll still have some favourable tide. But there is some possibility we might be delayed in which case we'd have to leave in unfavourable tide at around 11 in the morning.

mfs: With a boat as fast as PlayStation surely this won't matter?

SF: The tide will bother us on sea state as we come out of the Solent and also as we go down through the Channel Islands.

mfs: What route do you take past the Channel Islands?

SF: It is pretty direct and we'll go between the islands. The heading is close to south after we get out of the Solent. The race course [ie the RORC race] does requires you to leave the Channel Islands to port, but the world record course only requires the start off Cowes and the finish at a buoy in St Malo.

mfs: How much breeze and sea state are you expecting to encounter?

SF: We are expecting 35 knots, gusting to 40. We hope only 12ft sea state!

mfs: We kind of speed you do think you'll average?

SF: I don't know what speeds we'll do. It'll be a bashing and we'll see what the boat can take. We'll start with the prospect of a substantial improvement on the record to allow for things going wrong but in the end we'll be very happy just to break the record. The main thing is to break the record.

mfs: Tell us about your crew

SF: Almost everyone has sailed on PlayStation before. So I have a resource of people who know what the drill is on PlayStation, how we sail her, what needs to be done, so we don't have to teach somebody how to take a reef. And then these sailors a lot of them are busy and a lot can't make it at any one point in time and this is why I need an inventory of perhaps twice as many sailors as we actually need as any one point.

mfs: What do you think of the new Channel Crossing Trophy?

SF: The trophy is a good idea. I think it is a good course, becuase you can sail fast and you can use big boats on this course, but it is still challenging to get the right weather. I think it is very difficult to get the perfect weather, because you've got these difficult requirements, because the wind has to be far enough north so that you can get out of the Solent, but not so far north that you are dead downwind as you make the approach to St Malo. So it requires a very specific wind direction and careful timing of the start.