French threat to round the world record

Sailing

The record for sailing round the world was under threat yesterday as the French skipper Olivier de Kersauson took 24 hours to travel 397 miles in the 90ft trimaran Sport-Elec.

The target is the 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds set by Sir Peter Blake and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1994 in the 92ft catamaran Enza.

With 1,800 miles still to run, De Kersauson was around 36 hours ahead of schedule. However, the weather experts advising De Kersauson said yesterday they were having to "thread him through and around" a couple of low pressure systems to put him on top of the Atlantic Ridge.

The former world 505 champion, Jeremy Robinson, flies out to Annapolis, Maryland, this week to take over as helmsman on the British Admiral's Cup team big boat, Graham Walker's Indulgence. He and the tactician Glyn Charles will be the third combination tried so far.