Sailing: MacArthur frustrated as wind refuses to pick up

Calm weather was continuing to cause problems yesterday for Ellen MacArthur and her crew on Kingfisher 2 in their bid to establish a new round-the- world record. By yesterday morning Kingfisher 2 was 370 nautical miles west of Rio de Janeiro in the South Atlantic, around 12 hours and 40 minutes behind the pace set by the existing record holder, Orange.

"Frustration has been the word of the day and will be the word for the next few days too," MacArthur wrote. "We are just dying to get into some breeze and to feel Kingfisher 2 take off beneath us but to sail round the world without calms like this is impossible."

Despite a slow night, Kingfisher 2's 24-hour run of 266 miles was a few miles more than Orange achieved on day 12 of their record bid. Forecasts for the next few days predict winds no stronger than three to 10 knots.

* The Swiss challengers, Alinghi, and the defenders, Team New Zealand, unveiled their boats for the 31st America's Cup in Auckland yesterday. Alinghi will contest the series in the same boat used to beat Oracle BMW Racing 5-1 in the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers series final last month. The best-of-nine America's Cup begins in the Hauraki Gulf on Saturday.