Edwards unveils plans

Tracy Edwards and her Maiden Ocean Racing Qatar team have announced the start dates of two ocean races - The Oryx Cup and The Quest 2006.

The $1m (£555,555) non-stop round-the-world Oryx Cup for 100ft multihulls and 90ft monohulls will start from the Solent in January 2005.

The first prize will be the biggest in sailing history - $1m (£555,555).

The Quest 2006, a round-the-world race with stops, will start in December 2006 from Doha, Qatar.

Edwards' proposed £38m sponsorship programme from the state of Qatar has angered other race organisers including Bruno Peyron, the founder of The Race, a non-stop-round-the-world dash for giant mulithulls.

Edwards skippered the first all-female crew on Maiden in the 1989-90 Whitbread round-the-world race.

In 1998, Britain's Edwards became the first skipper to lead an all-women team in an attempt to break the round-the-world record.

The effort was ended when her multihull Royal and Sun Alliance suffered a broken mast in the southern ocean.

Edwards and her Maiden II crew hold the world record for the biggest distance covered in a 24-hour period of 694.78 nautical miles set in June 2002.