Macarthur unveils new $1.8m boat
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Macarthur on her new boat during sea trials off the Australian coast
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LONDON, England -- Europe's favorite yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur has ceremonially unveiled the new $1.8 million boat she hopes will help her break the solo round-the-world record.
The celebrated British yachtswoman showed off the 75ft trimaran in a live link-up from Sydney as she opened the 50th London Boat Show.
The high-tech B&Q Castorama was designed by Briton Nigel Irens and built by a 40-strong team who have worked more than 30,000 man hours since May 2003.
"More blood sweat and tears went into the making of this boat than any other boat that has ever been on the water," said MacArthur, as pictures of her with the vessel were beamed back to a crowd of sailing fans at the ExCel centre in London's Docklands.
"We pretty much said, 'Forget the rule book, we want to build the fastest boat, how are we going to do it?"'
MacArthur, 27, originally from Derbyshire, became the youngest and fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe when she finished second in the Vendee Globe race in 2001.
Her new boat, which has a 100 foot mast, will be used to challenge for round-the-world and trans-Atlantic records from June.
MacArthur failed in her last bid to set the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the globe last February, when the mast on Kingfisher 2 broke in the Southern Ocean.
She will sail the new trimaran to Auckland, New Zealand with a crew this month and expects to set off for Cape Horn or the Falkland Islands in early March.
The 75ft trimaran was custom-built for Macarthur in Australia
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From 12,000 miles away, MacArthur cut a ribbon to open the London Boat Show.
Keith Mills, chief executive of London's 2012 Olympic bid, and sailors from the British Olympic team, Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Shirley Robertson, then cut a second ribbon to mark the show's opening.
Among the 800 boats on display at the event, which runs to January 18, are the $9 million Sunseeker 105 and the British naval frigate HMS Northumberland.
The show will also feature the first UK indoor windsurfing championships which starts on Monday in a specially constructed pool.
Turbines will create 25 knots of wind and there will be seating for 1,500 spectators. The best UK windsurfers will compete in slalom, freestyle and jump events, then take on elite international competitors.
