Ellen running out of time

After six weeks on standby for an attempt on the solo 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. The 75-foot trimaran arrived in New York (USA) on 23rd August and officially went on standby from the 1st September, she has been waiting patiently but 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 the 20th October looms as Ellen must be in the port of Le Havre by the 28th October, a week before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre race which she is doing with French skipper, Roland Jourdain on the Open 60 monohull Sill et Veolia – this is a mandatory commitment for all skippers to participate in the event’s prologue race.
Ellens new book Race Against Time will be on the streets soon and the soloqueen is nominated for both ISAF Rolex Female sailor of the Year and The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year. Suprise, suprise; she has won both before.