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The story so far of Ellen MacArthur's new trimaran - plus a Round Britain record attempt possible

The fourth documentary following the highs and lows of Ellen's sailing career will be broadcast on BBC1 in the UK on Wednesday 14 July at 7.00pm. The 50 minute documentary entitled 'The Search for Speed' follows the construction and launch of the 75-foot Castorama B&Q trimaran in Australia, her delivery from Australia to the US and MacArthur's attempt on the solo transatlantic record.

The Extreme Lives TV production team, headed up by Llion Iwan from BBC TV Wales, have produced all of the BBC documentaries about Ellen to date. This latest offering gives viewers a unique insight into the life of Ellen and her team, from the conception and construction of the trimaran, right through to the first record attempt just a few weeks ago.

Ellen may have missed out on the 7 day, 2 hour, 34 minute and 42 second record set by Laurent Bourgnon by just 75 minutes but the fact remains that the record attempt provided Ellen with her first real opportunity to test the Nigel-Irens designed trimaran in a 'record pace' environment.

"When we finished the record attempt, I was utterly exhausted - there were no reserves whatsoever to draw on, I had had it. But B&Q could have kept on going for eternity, I think!" says Ellen. "Nothing serious had broken during the attempt and we saw some pretty big conditions on the way across including 40+ knot winds and big seas. She was fantastic, never showing any real signs of stress or pitch-poling or capsizing. I pushed B&Q hard, really hard as I knew it was important for us to test ourselves to the limits and to build confidence in what we were both capable of. Now we are analysing the data from the boat, data from me including sleep and energy consumption data and going over every part of the record attempt to see where I could have done things differently. Having done the solo transatlantic record attempt I am certain that we have a 'glamour' on our hands and B&Q is capable of setting of records."

After arriving back in Southampton, Castorama B&Q returned briefly to Offshore Challenge's Cowes Waterfront base before heading to Brest to attend the Brest Festival of the sea and to meet sponsor engagements for co-title sponsor Castorama for two weeks. After this the trimaran will return to the UK for two weeks of B&Q hospitality and media activity that will include a presence at the UK's largest sailing regatta, Skandia Cowes Week on 7-14 August.

By mid-August the trimaran will return to her French base in Lorient, NW France, to undergo further sea trials before a possible attempt on the Round Britain and Ireland record. This solo record currently stands at 11 days, 12 hours, 26 minutes and 48 seconds set by Belgian sailor Michel Kleinjans on board a 40ft monohull Roaring Forty in June this year. Kleinjans set this record at an average speed of 6.74 knots and Castorama B&Q is certainly capable of maintaining significantly higher averages if the right weather patterns aid her attempt. But the course is notoriously difficult, with strong tidal currents and variable weather conditions as well as some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

From September, the 75ft trimaran will be based in Lorient for a refit prior to the round the world voyage and will go on Standby Mode Red from early November. "The long-term goal of this project has always been to go solo around the world and following the half circumnavigation back from Australia and our solo attempt across the Atlantic, we are now ready to take on this huge challenge," said MacArthur. Frenchman Francis Joyon slashed the previous solo round the world record set by Michel Desjoyeux in the 2000/2001 Vendée Globe by 20 days finishing in February this year, less than a month after the launch of Castorama B&Q. The new record set by Joyon on his 90ft trimaran, IDEC, stands the extraordinary quick time of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds. "Francis has raised the bar considerably and it will be no easy feat beating his time - and it is no easy feat sailing round the world solo on a big multihull!" concludes MacArthur.

Francis Joyon is himself continuing his solo record breaking programme, and is currently planning east-west and west-east transatlantic passages.