Tracy Edwards’ Maiden II crew set sail last night from Newport in an attempt to break the 24 hour world speed record.

After four hours at sea the team had covered 131nm at course 105T – an average of 32.75kts. Adrienne Cahalan , the navigator reports from the boat: “We are working hard to put miles in the bank because sea conditions are getting a little more difficult as the wind increases, and soon it will be dark for around eight hours and harder for the drivers to see the waves.

“We have five drivers who are rotating about every hour and the trimmers are working within their normal watches of four hours on deck. However, we are only sailing with 13 people so everyone really plans to stay up for the 24-36 hours it will take to attempt the record.

” I have not yet been on deck because I’ve been spending time calculating figures, monitoring the courses and averages and working with our onshore forecasters at Commanders. We have reached now a top speed of 44kts on the GPS over the ground (reported by on deck crew) which is certainly something. Conditions remain TWS 26kts TWD 240T, sun setting, warm and very wet (not in the nav station though). You have to be very careful on deck and below because you can get slingshot along the corridors or through the cockpit because the boat is moving so fast and wildly.”