Ellen MacArthur is in negotiations with the United Kingdom Sailing Academy to sail Gipsy Moth IV solo across the Atlantic in a bid to beat Sir Francis Chichester’s best time for the ocean crossing.

The 53ft ketch is currently working her way to Panama as she make a her second circumnavigation to celebrate Yachting Monthly’s centenary year and the 40th anniversary of Chichester’s 1966-67 triumph.

Any passage by MacArthur will have to wait until GMIV’s voyage ends in 2007. Should she decide to ‘go for it’ to use her favourite phrase she will silence critics who have claimed her own world-circling record was ‘easier’ – thanks to modern technology – than the challenge faced by those of yesteryear.