Cam Lewis and co-skipper Laurent Bourgnon had to postpone their planned assault on the biggest sailing record in the book – Serge Madec’s June 1990 crossing – because helpful weather conditions failed to materialise. “Conditions appeared favorable for a Monday evening departure but the situation in the North Atlantic deteriorated and we’re now waiting for a more suitable forecast,” said Team Adventure’s navigator, Larry Rosenfeld.

The 110ft Ollier-designed maxicat Team Adventure is berthed at the Chelsea Piers complex on Manhattan’s West Site as her international crew waits for a favourable weather window.

“We’re playing a waiting game,” Rosenfeld said. “We rely on complex meteorological forecast models to show us a series of days in the North Atlantic where the winds and waves favour a high speed run. We may have to wait days, or even weeks.”

Madec’s record (6d, 13h, 3m, 32s) was set on the 75ft catamaran Jet Services V in June 1990. He and his crew averaged 18.42 knots (34.5 kph) for the crossing and it took boatbuilders six weeks to get the boat back into safe sailing condition when they eventually arrived in France.

Two years ago, sailing Bourgnon’s 60ft trimaran Foncia Immoblier, Lewis and Bourgnon narrowly missed breaking the record when they ran out of wind only 46 miles from the finish. Theirs was the closest of nine attempts in the last 11 years.