MacArthur on course for record books

Ellen MacArthur was heading for the record books last night as the fastest person ever to sail around the world solo non-stop.

The exhausted 28-year-old from the Isle of Wight was expected to pass the finish line off Ushant, France in her 75ft trimaran B&Q at around midnight Irish time last night.

If she does, she will have sailed 27,000 miles around the world in 71 days and 15 hours bettering the record set by Francis Joyon by about one day and seven hours.

When the Frenchman set his time in February last year of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds, many in the sailing world thought it would stand for years as he took a massive 20 days off the old record.

But 5ft 3ins yachtswoman MacArthur looks set to achieve what she herself admitted was an almost impossible task when she set out on February 28 last year.

At one point it looked like the challenge was over when one of the wheels or "cars" that allows the 165kg main sail to be hoisted came away from its track, meaning she could not raise it fully.

After climbing the rig, MacArthur managed to fix it.

Despite gales and icebergs in the southern ocean, light winds in the Atlantic and a host of technical problems, including a generator that was consuming too much vital fuel and a failed watermaker, she managed to stay ahead of the time set by Joyon for the vast majority of the voyage.