Sailing: New mast track lifts MacArthur's hopes

After the difficult and testing process of anchoring Kingfisher 2 in Plymouth Sound late on Tuesday night, Ellen MacArthur and her crew finally managed to begin work repairing their giant catamaran's damaged mast track.

The replacement mast track, provided by Tracy Edwards from Maiden II, arrived in Plymouth on Tuesday night, and MacArthur was optimistic yesterday afternoon that Kingfisher 2 was no more than a day and half away from starting an attempt on the Jules Vernes Trophy for the record global circumnavigation.

"We now have the bits of the mast track we need," MacArthur said yesterday. "The guys are going to work till its done, although the conditions are difficult. We are keen to get back out there as soon as possible – the wind is in the north for the next 48 hours and that's what we want, although the sea state in the channel is rougher than we would like."

Elsewhere, it was revealed yesterday that in the Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race for amateur sailors, Nicola Reading, a 31-year-old marketing manager from Beccles in Suffolk, had fallen overboard on Tuesday morning during a spinnaker drop from the 60ft Cape Town Clipper in the Pacific Ocean.

The incident occurred during the Ko Olina Cup Race from Galapagos to Hawaii, which is part of the Clipper Race. Reading was on the foredeck gathering a lowered spinnaker when a gust of wind caught the sail and pushed her over the side.

The crew put into operation the man-overboard recovery drill which they had spent so long practicing and Reading was brought back on board, shaken but without any injuries, after 12 minutes in the water.