BRITAIN: Ellen MacArthur was heading for the record books last night as the fastest person to sail around the world solo non-stop.
The exhausted 28-year-old Englishwoman, who lives in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, was expected to pass the finish line off Ushant, France in her 75ft trimaran B&Q around midnight.
By doing so, she would have sailed 27,000 miles around the world in 71 days and 15 hours - bettering the record set by Francis Joyon by about one day and seven hours.
When the Frenchman set his time in February last year of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds, many in the sailing world thought it would stand for years as he took a massive 20 days off the old record.
But the 5ft 3ins yachtswoman, who is originally from Derbyshire in the English midlands, looked set to achieve what she admitted was an almost impossible task when she set out on November 28th last year.
Yesterday evening, MacArthur was less than 200 miles from the finish with good southerly winds propelling her to her goal. Barring a major accident, she is assured of the record which is verified by the World Sailing Speed Records Council.
When she passes the line, her shore team is expected to get aboard to take the helm as MacArthur is close to physical exhaustion.One of the crew aboard at the end will be the sailor's doctor Kevin McNeel.
He said: "I suspect that Ellen is physically spent. She looks after the boat better than she looks after herself. I will be taking some blood and urine samples and trying to re-hydrate her but mentally she is one of the strongest people I know and this is the key to her success, she is very driven."
The voyage has been incident-packed for the sailor who has suffered burns to her arm, been battered and bruised when she had to climb the 90ft mast and narrowly avoided colliding with a whale during the attempt.
At one point it looked like the challenge was over when one of the wheels or "cars" that allows the 165kg main sail to be hoisted came away.
After climbing the rig, MacArthur managed to fix it.