B&Q in Newfoundland

Ellen delays delivery to New York due to headwinds

After a delivery trip lasting eight days, the 75ft trimaran B&Q Castorama arrived in the Canadian port of St. John’s, Newfoundland early this afternoon. The delivery crew of Loik Gallon, Jean-Sébastien Chesnier Proteau, Lalou Roucayrol and Kate Steven will disembark from the trimaran, as Ellen MacArthur and back-up crew Charles Darbyshire take her on to New York.

It will be a relatively short turn-around for the crews as they clear customs and re-stock the boat but MacArthur has decided to delay the departure for New York: “We have decided to delay departure until tomorrow morning otherwise we will just sail out into 30 knots on the nose from the southwest. So we will wait for the wind to go into the north-west and then leave. We should have a good breeze to start with but it could get lighter in the middle so our ETA for New York is currently 22-23 August. It’s still another 1,000 miles to sail so it is a fair distance to go.”

Since finishing her solo round the world record, Ellen has only sailed with a crew on a couple of smaller record attempts and this will be her first opportunity to sail in ‘solo’ mode. Charles Darbyshire will be on board purely in a back-up role and to test some of the communication equipment on board.

“This is the first time I have sailed B&Q by myself since February," continued Ellen. "I am hoping to be able to push B&Q over this 1,000 mile delivery and test the set-up of the boat in a lighter mode. Doing a record attempt that only lasts 7 days compared to 70+ day attempt, the boat is not loaded up in the same way.”

Upon arrival in New York, it is planned that the trimaran will be berthed for the first few days at North Cove Marina which is located in downtown Manhattan where the current solo transatlantic record holder, Francis Joyon, berthed his 90ft trimaran IDEC while he was on standby.

MacArthur will not be the only skipper on standby for an attempt on the current 6 day, 4 hour, 1 minute and 37 second solo transatlantic record. Since the beginning of August, French skipper Thomas Coville has been based in New York with his ORMA 60ft trimaran. Sodebo. Ellen expects to go on standby from 1 September to wait for the ideal weather system to propel her 2925 miles across the North Atlantic. If Coville is still waiting in the wings, it could turn into a race as well as a record attempt!