MacArthur plans more records

ELLEN MacArthur will now take at least a month off to recover before she and her team start preparing to capture a host of other nautical records.

And after the non-stop solo round the world triumph, Ellen will be much closer to home for one challenge she is expected to attempt the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland.

The current holder, fellow Brit Peter Keig, completed the record in 18 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 57 seconds in October 2001.

A spokeswoman said the attempt was likely to take place next year. But this year, she said, MacArthur had some unfinished business and she was likely to make a second attempt to beat the west to east transatlantic record. Last year she narrowly missed capturing a new time by just 75 minutes.

Looking further ahead, MacArthur is also likely to attempt the Shanghai to London record, which was an old 19th century clipper route to the Far East.

To beat that record, she will need to beat Philippe Monnet's time of 67 days, 10 hours and 26 minutes set in 1990.

But the spokeswoman for the sailor said the immediate task was to get the English yachtswoman fit and healthy again.

"She really needs to recover from what she has achieved and we are hoping that she will get at least a month off as her diary is pretty much sorted," she said.