Ellen Mcarthur has become a super star of international marine competition, Her face is constantly seen on our television screens, her book was a best seller, and she has been adopted by the public of not only her own country, but the rest of Europe.

A small woman, not yet 25 she has achieved a string of first places, and broken many records in a career that is still only a few years old. A far cry from her original ambition to be a vet.

On the 30th October, Ellen in Kingfisher, the vessel that has carried her to so many victories, arrived in St Malo for the start of the prestigious Route du Rhum, where she would spend the next 11 days making preparations to both herself and the boat.

The race puts fantastic strain on each competitor both mentally and physically, allowing for brief bursts of sleep only. Ellen would be using a bio monitor to keep an eye on her stress levels. Being at peak physical fitness is of ultimate importance during the 3,450 mile race, especially when she can expect only to get the maximum of 4 hours sleep in every 24 hours, and this taken in 10 x 30 minute snatches.

The race covers 15 ?18 days for monohulls, and 10 ? 12 days for multihulls and concludes in Guadeloupe.

The journey to St Mato from Team Kingfishers base in Cowes had already put the 9 tonne Kingfisher through it's paces as it faced conditions from 5 ? 30 knots. Ellen commented that they had never been better prepared since the 1998 Route du Rhum, the first outing of Kingfisher.

Ellen, from the beginning was always at the front of the pack, by 1454.1 miles to the finishing line she had opened up a commanding lead, over 33 miles ahead of Mike Golding in ECOVER, 422 miles from Joe Seetan in ARCELOR DUNKERQUE and 550 miles from Roland Jourdain in SILL.

She was reaching terrifying speeds and putting the vessel under a lot of pressure, facing nearly 30 knots in an unpredictable Atlantic.
Roland Jourdain was putting in an incredible performance, moving four places up in just two days.

It all proved in vain however as on the 23rd of November, Ellen Macarthur and Kingfisher crossed the Guadeloupe finishing line in first place, securing another record in the Route du Rhum solo race.

Macarthur put her victory down to her team, and to her vessel Kingfisher. An important factor was also her decision to take a more northerly route, avoiding the ferocious storms that forced a number of respected competitors to retire, including the pre race favourite Roland Jourdain.

The storm lashed SILL, ripping off the Mainsail and forcing Jourdain to head to Madeira for quick repairs.

This left first and second place to the two English competitors Ellen and Mike Golding, eventually yielding them first and second place. An incredible achievement when you consider that both lost their spinnakers a week before crossing the finishing line, and had to climb the mast for repairs in ferocious weathers and at full speed.

Despite this Ellen finished in the record time of 13 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes, this beat the 1994 record set by Yves Parker by nearly three days!

It can only be imagined what could be achieved in her new vessel, Kingfisher 2, a massive 110 foot maxi-catamaran when compared to the hightech but more traditional Kingfisher. Ellen will be taking a few days off to recuperate, before
attempting to break the dales Verne Trophy record of 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds around the globe!

The Kingfisher had already a formidable reputation due to it's utilisation of the best available technology and equipment, including it's bank of adverc battery management systems.

It was through conversations with ADVERC BM Ltd specialists that another step in the improvement of the vessel was taken. The Kingfisher creates the power necessary to run all of the on beard equipment using two generators and alternators. On the suggestion of the ADVERC team, the optimum drive pulley ratio was selected. This enabled both the generators and alternators to run at their fastest optimum speed, resulting in the weight of fuel needed being reduced by over a tonne!