Ellen update

Weather window looking unlike for solo transat attempt

After six weeks on standby for an attempt on the solo west to east transatlantic record to beat Francis Joyon’s time of 6 days, 4 hours and 1 minute, the window of opportunity is quickly drawing to a close for Ellen MacArthur. Her 75ft trimaran B&Q Castorama arrived in New York on 23 August and officially went on standby from 1 September. She has been waiting patiently but so far to no avail. Now only one week remains before Ellen and her team are stood down and, for now, the weather forecast over the next seven days is not encouraging. The deadline of 20 October looms as Ellen must be in Le Havre by 28 October, a week before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre race she is sailing with Roland Jourdain on Jourdain's Open 60 Sill et Veolia - this is a mandatory commitment for all skippers to participate in the event’s prologue race.

Ellen and the team are working with their weather analysts in an attempt to find a suitable weather system for her to begin her attempt, but present forecasts for the next seven days are not looking positive, keeping B&Q Castorama firmly tied to her berth at North Cove Marina. However, Ellen was in the same situation in June last year after a two month standby period for this same record looked set to prove fruitless - then what was planned as a delivery trip back to the UK suddenly became a record attempt...

Although on that occasion, Ellen missed out on the record by 75 minutes, it shows that the weather has the ability to change dramatically in a very short period of time. In order for Ellen to beat this record, she needs a perfect weather system, she must hook into a depression and ride it all the way across the Atlantic to the English Channel.

B&Q Castorama has been on stand-by during the hurricane season, and these have had a destabilising affect upon the weather in the North Atlantic. As a result the perfect weather system has not existed throughout her standby period. The level and frequency of these hurricanes and tropical storms have been particularly intense.

“We knew that being on standby at this time of year would be complicated by the hurricane season, and the North Atlantic weather patterns have been severely affected by these powerful hurricanes," said Ellen. "With only one week left we are hoping that a window may appear. If a suitable weather system does not appear I know that the whole team will be disappointed at not having had the opportunity to go again this time.”

The last opportunity for B&Q Castorama to leave New York will up next Thursday 20 October. This would signal the end for her attempt on this record for this year. A further attempt on the record in 2006 will be discussed by Ellen, her team and her sponsors, B&Q in the coming months.

With no weather window in sight and the team on standby code red, Ellen has been making use of this time in France preparing for the Transat Jacques Vabre Race. With only 22 days remaining until the start of the 4,340 mile double-handed race on 5 November from the French port of Le Havre, Ellen and Roland have been training both onshore and offshore as much as possible including the technical and communication systems on board, weather routing and tactics. “It is great to be back out on an Open 60 again," says Ellen. "It has been a long time since I have sailed in this class and there are many differences to the layout and handling of a boat like Sill compared to B&Q Castorama. I think the Transat Jacques Vabre will be a great race, there are so many boats and crews that are capable of winning, it will mean this race is wide open.”


New book

The latest book from publishers, Michael Joseph/Penguin, titled Race Against Time, showcases Ellen’s successful solo, non-stop round the world record and will be available to buy in stores nationwide from 27 October. The hard-back book follows Ellen’s race against the clock as she attempted to become the fastest solo sailor on the planet.

Just after 10pm on the night of 7 February 2005, Ellen MacArthur crossed an imaginary line in the sea off Brittany to become the fastest person ever to sail solo round the world. The record was held by a Frenchman Francis Joyon. He’d slashed over 20 days off the previous record and many thought his extraordinary new benchmark would stand for ten years or more. Most experts thought that the record would be beyond MacArthur. But in a superhuman effort that forced her to dig deeper than ever before, she proved the doubters wrong. Her effort captured the world’s imagination and the scenes that greeted her return to Falmouth were euphoric. It was to become one of the single greatest sporting achievements of the year. Drawing on logs, emails, sound and video diaries, this beautifully designed, fully illustrated book captures the drama, excitement, danger, joy and tears of a truly extraordinary achievements.

The book will be available nationwide in hardback from 27 October for only £20.00, or pre-orders can be made here.


More awards

This month Ellen has received nominations for two prestigious awards being nominated for the ISAF Rolex Female sailor of the Year and The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year - Ellen has won both of these awards before. She was awarded the ISAF Rolex sailor of the year in 2001 after the solo Vendée Globe race and in the same year, The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year. The Rolex ISAF Female Sailor of the Year award aims to recognise achievements in sailing over the last 12 months, Ellen shares the nomination with three other female sailors who have all excelled within their own particular class of sailing. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Singapore on 8 November.

The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year has short-listed Ellen, along with four other sportswomen including the 2005 marathon champion Paula Radcliffe and European three-day event champion Zara Phillips. If Ellen were to win this award, it would be the first time in the awards history that the same person has received the award twice. Voting closes on the 8 November with the winner being announced on the 16 November at a ceremony in London.