Wind picks up to help Edwards

Sailing

The all-woman transatlantic record attempt skippered by Tracy Edwards was well on track last night, on the third day after crossing the start line at Ambrose Light, New York, writes Stuart Alexander.

The 92ft catamaran Royal & Sun Alliance had covered 840 miles in the first 48 hours at an average of 17.6 knots, chasing the 18.6 knot average set by France's Serge Madec in the catamaran Jet Services in 1990. But that was after the wind had lightened over the second night and yesterday evening Edwards was reporting a renewed charge as the breeze strengthened.

In Stockholm at the end of the Round Europe Race Sweden's Ludde Ingvall announced that four of the Ericsson 80s, formerly the Grand Mistral yachts, would attempt to beat 100 days around the world. Roy Heiner of the Netherlands, Russia's Sergei Borodov and France's Bernard Perrin will be the other skippers.