Cat out of shadows

Ellen MacArthur's huge cat, Kingfisher2, is purring once more. Yesterday it picked up favourable winds and was flying south in the epic attempt to beat the 64-day record for sailing round the world.

Six days into the venture MacArthur still trails Orange, which set the record of 64 days 8hr 37min 24sec last year, and is also behind Geronimo, which set out two weeks before Kingfisher2. But everyone looked a little happier yesterday as at one stage a speed of 31 knots was reached.

It now looks almost impossible for Kingfisher2 to break the existing Ushant-equator record set by Geronimo - the equator would have to be crossed by 18:15:09 today - but it may be possible, based on the current routing, for MacArthur to beat the seven days 22hr set by Orange last year. With some fast sailing she could even challenge the seven days 4hr 24min set by Peter Blake and Robin Knox-Johnston in Enza in 1994.

MacArthur spoke yesterday of wind shadows covering as much as 50 miles. "Sometimes a wind shadow can be four times the size of an island. Even when you can't see the island there can be absolutely no wind and it's not been much fun."

A British crew member, Nigel King, said: "One aspect that has been a little disappointing has been the wildlife. So far there have been very few sightings, very down on my previous races in the north Atlantic. But the sight of a giant squid with a body length of around one metre was amazing - could be the antibiotics at work."