At 1900 GMT on Thursday evening, Team Adventure, the 110ft Ollier maxi cat that finished third in The Race, left New York for an attempt to break the 11-year old transatlantic sailing record, set by Jet Services in 1990. Jet Services, later to become Commodore Explorer and the first boat to win the Jules Verne trophy, made the crossing between Sandy Hook and the Lizard in 6 days, 13 hours and 3 minutes, an average speed of 18.4 knots.

Team Adventure has far greater speed potential than the present record holder and during The Race some remarkable speeds were recorded, included the incredible 24 hour record set by Club Med, 655.13 miles in 24 hours. Skipper Cam Lewis said of the Atlantic record, ‘it’s less a question of whether we break the record than by how much’. In the first 12 hours of the attempt Team Adventure averaged 25 knots and is aiming to pick up a low pressure area off Cape Race, hoping it will slingshot the cat across the Atlantic.

Meanwhile back in New York, PlayStation is still alongside the dock, her attempt on the record on hold whilst owner Steve Fossett is attempting a different kind of record, to be the first person to achieve a solo circumnavigation by balloon. Whilst Team Adventure smoked up America’s north east coast, Fossett was drifing towards South America, a quarter of the way through his attempt.