Flying start for Dee Caffari and the girls onboard Aviva

by Event media on 17 Jun 2009 Dee Caffari and her all female crew onboard Aviva have had a successful first night in their attempt to break the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland. Having departed from Gosport at 6pm yesterday, the crew crossed the official start line off Ventnor on the Isle of Wight at 21:09:36 and are sailing in an anti-clockwise direction.

Dee Caffari commented:

'It's been wicked. We are really on the pace and have worked hard overnight dodging shipping in the English Channel with lots of manoeuvres and sail changes already. We are about to enter an area of variable weather which will keep us pretty busy for the rest of today.'

The all female crew are hoping to making good progress today, despite a dying low pressure system, before picking up a new breeze that will set them on their way again and continue to increase as a cold front comes in.

At 09h00 this morning, Caffari and crew were passing Southend-on-Sea and were approximately 10 hours ahead of the pace required to beat the outright record.

Round Britain and Ireland Record Overview

Dee Caffari, the British yachtswoman who made history by becoming the first woman to sail solo, non stop both ways around the world, set off at 21:09:36 on Monday 15th June to attempt to break the record for sailing around Britain and Ireland

Caffari is joined onboard her racing yacht Aviva by an all female crew, including fellow British yachtswoman and Vendée Globe race rival Samantha Davies, sailor Miranda Merron and boat captain Alex Sizer

The current outright record stands at 7 days 4 hours and was set in May 2004 onboard Solune

Another record in their sights is for an all female crew, which stands at 10 days and 16 hours recorded by Samantha Davies and her crew onboard Roxy in June 2007

The route is almost 2500 nautical miles around the British coastline.