With a succession of autumn lows tracking unstoppably across the Atlantic as if on a conveyor belt, everyone with a fast enough boat seems to want to have a crack at the Round Britain and Ireland record. The latest is Olivier de Kersauson, who has asked the World Speed Sailing Record Council to time him for a possible start on Sunday in his 110ft trimaran Géronimo.

De Kersauson’s crew was beaten to a record in August by the Maiden 2 crew, and since then Steve Fossett’s PlayStation has trimmed it back even further, but they are undeterred. Géronimo has had a succession of problems and misfortunes since her launch this time last year and is yet to sieze any record, however small. This attempt will be a ‘real life’ practice session for his Jules Verne attempt this coming winter.

His team has yet to say which way round they’ll go, but with the centre of a low pressure system forecast to be centred north of Ireland this weekend, an anti-clockwise route appears to be favoured.

The time they will have to beat is PlayStation’s, which (subject to ratification) stands at 4d 16h 9m 36s.