Ellen MacArthur has put her cash where her ambitions lie by backing a 7-1 bet to set a new non-stop round the world record in her giant catamaran Kingfisher 2.

The Cowes-based yachtswoman has placed £800 with William Hill on her beating the current Jules Verne record of 64 days, eight hours 37 minutes 24 seconds and, if she and her hot shot crew succeed, she stands to pick up a whopping £6,400 for her efforts.

Her campaign started inauspiciously when the mast track on Kingfisher 2 was found to be faulty on the stormy passage from their base in Lorient to the notional start line at Ushant.

The crew were forced to make a 24 hour pitstop in Plymouth while Tracy Edwards, who owns sister ship Maiden 2, agreed to remove the track from her boat in Ocean Village and transport it down to Devon.

But with the new track in place, Kingfisher 2 crossed the start line at 6.48am yesterday morning and immediately picked up a stiff northerly breeze to propel the boat down south.

There was more breeze than the sails could cope with and, with the entire suit packed away, the boat was still travelling at a remarkable 20 knots - in her first hour she covered nearly 30 miles of the 26,000-mile course around the globe.

"We've got breeze of about 35-40 knots - the boat's instruments recorded a guest of 47.5 knots during the night - and boat speed is quick from 25-30 knots, so we're shifting pretty quickly," MacArthur, pictured above, reported.

"The sea state though is quite rough, though."

"Conditions will stay similar for today 35-40 knots, so we should continue to make good speed.

"Winds are forecast to go to go slightly round more to the left (west) with some quite strong gusts.

"But, on the whole, they will drop to 30-35 knots this evening.

"Life on deck is pretty rough and very cold - when the watch crew are on deck, everyone is holding on to a line ready to release it or ready to change sail, so really on our toes in this wind."

This will continue for the first few days of the campaign, though with Olivier de Kersauson gaining a two-day lead on Bruno Peyron's current record in his maxi trimaran Geronimo - setting a new time to the equator - the pressure is on MacArthur to maintain breakneck speeds.

Kingfisher 2's maximum speed so far (data is sent back every two hours) has been a giant 37.1 knots, with maximum wind speed of 47.5 knots.