Ellen assessed

Ed Gorman gives his views on Ellen MacArthur's five year plan

Of course the headline-grabbing aspect is the decision to charter an Ollier maxi-cat and have a crack with a mixed crew at the Jules Verne starting this time next year, but the real underlying motive is all about the 60ft trimaran which comes afterwards and in which Ellen will compete in the 2006 Route du Rhum.

This will be Ellen's first purpose-built new boat since Kingfisher and by the time she gets aboard it for the first time in 2005, she will be a seriously experienced multihull racer, having campaigned Alain Gautier's new Foncia in the interim. So long as her partnership with Turner holds good, it would come as no surprise if, by the end of 2006-2007, Ellen had not conquered the 60ft trimaran racing world.

Turner summed up the strategy. "The Jules Verne and everything in between are really building up to the single-handed sailing in the trimaran which, you know, takes some communicating, but is probably tougher than the Vendee. Everything in the next two years focuses around the new tri and is about building up to that point. In France particularly, everyone expected her to have a tri by now which would have been to rush it. She probably could have made the Route du Rhum this year but she wants to do it when she's ready and the whole programme is based around that - taking her time, getting it right and giving it her best shot later on."

You get the feeling that despite all the success or perhaps even because of it, nothing has changed at Offshore Challenges. It's still all about learning and preparation and to be frank, humility in the face of the task ahead. Turner himself still believes we have not seen the best of Ellen yet. "I think she is getting better and harder and tougher," he said.

Ellen with Offshore Challenge's new race horse, the talented Australian Nick Moloney