Britain sets Transat pace

Fujifilm: Caught and passed by MacArthur's Kingfisher

British sailors have made a tremendous start to the Transat Jacques Vabre.

On Thursday morning of the first week of the trans-Atlantic race from Le Havre to Brazil, Britain had representatives at the head of all three classes.

Ellen MacArthur led the multi-hulls, after charting a faster route past the Canary Islands than her rivals.

Ecover's Mike Golding and Marcus Hutchinson extended their lead to 24.8 miles over Sill Plein Fruit in the mono-hull division.

  Multi-hull leaders, Thursday 1100GMT

1. Foncia-Kingfisher

2. Belgacom

3. Fujifilm

And Alex Bennett and Paul Larsen pulled out a 64.6-mile lead in the Open 50 class.

It is still early days in a race that passes through the Doldrums en route to Salvador de Bahia.

But a British treble at race finish on Brazil's coffee coast would further boost the nation's sailing reputation.

MacArthur - a strong contender for BBC Sport's Personality of the Year - shares her success with team-mate and co-skipper Alain Gaultier.

The Frenchman is at the forefront of the syndicate that provided Transat-leading boat Foncia-Kingfisher.

He and MacArthur have been awarded a 15 minute time penalty following a protest launched by Sergio Tacchini at the race start.