Sailing: Record under threat from Edwards' 110-foot catamaran

All eyes will be on the record books in the Solent tomorrow as more than 1,600 yachts line up for the Britain's biggest sailing jamboree, the Round the Island Race.

The current fastest time of 3hr 8min 29sec for the annual 50-mile, anti-clockwise run round the Isle of Wight was set last year by the 60-foot trimaran Eure et Loire but, at nearly double the size, the 110-foot catamaran Maiden II should be able to break the three-hour barrier.

On board will be its owner, Tracy Edwards, with a crew that recently set a world record of 697 miles in 24 hours and are working towards an attack on the 61-day time for sailing round the world set earlier this year by Bruno Peyron on the near-sistership Orange.

That has been bought by Ellen MacArthur for a similar attempt early next year. Tomorrow, however, MacArthur will be sailing her Open 60, Kingfisher, in which she came second in the singlehanded Vendée Globe non-stop round the world race.

Kingfisher is a rally car compared to the 110-foot catamaran, but the bulk of the fleet is made up of ordinary club sailors, being sent off in staggered waves of yachts, some as small as 25 feet, from 8.30am off Cowes. If the forecast of a fresh south-westerly comes true, they will all be home for dinner and Edwards should be back on the dock well in time for lunch.