Ellen MacArthur to start Clipper Race Seven

by Fast Track/GJN on 6 Apr 2006 Ellen MacArthur, solo round the world record holder and British sailing legend, will be leading the fleet out for Race Seven of the Clipper Race from Qingdao on Saturday aboard her record-breaking trimaran B&Q.

MacArthur, who has now completed three legs of her Asian Record Circuit along with her crew on B&Q, arrived in Qingdao at 09:04:46 GMT today setting a new record for the leg from Dalian, China in a time of 1 day 2 minutes and 53 seconds - almost ten hours ahead of her target.

Clipper Ventures Chief Executive, William Ward was on the dockside to welcome the British sailor as she stepped off B&Q onto the brand new marina facility.

Speaking about the latest record attempt on her website, Dame Ellen said: 'With the sixteen sail changes in total on this leg, we are happy but tired! It has been a very cold record run and hard work over the past 24 hours.'

The next leg of the Asian Record Circuit sees Team Ellen race from Qingdao to Shanghai with a target time of 1 day 15 hours. Before the record-breaking team embark on their next challenge however, the Clipper fleet have the honour of being led out of the Olympic sailing venue by one of the all-time greats of the sport.