Ellen MacArthur, fresh from her historic victory in the Route du Rhum solo race, will head back to Europe this weekend, take a couple of days off, before rejoining her team in France to begin preparations for the Jules Verne.

Ellen’s new 110ft catamaran, Kingfisher2 (ex Orange) was successfully launched today sporting her sponsored B&Q and Castorama colours, and will be motored from Cowes to Cherbourg in the next couple of days, to await the delivery of the new carbon fibre 38m mast.