MacArthur record bid in jeopardy

Map: Ellen's route

Ellen MacArthur will find out in the next two days if technical problems are to force her to abandon her solo round-the-world record attempt.

MacArthur has installed a system to cool her back-up generator, which was creating heat and fumes in the cabin.

She has also fixed both the watermakers which provide water for drinking and preparing her freeze-dried food.

But her team must still assess whether it is safe for her 75-foot trimaran B&Q to tackle the remote Southern Ocean.

At 0710 GMT on Monday, MacArthur was nine hours 56 minutes ahead of Francis Joyon's record of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds.

She has only slept for four hours in two days, however, and her shore team must be sure the repairs have worked before she moves into the freezing and ferocious Southern Ocean.

"I feel pretty trashed, and unsettled by all this," she told her website.

"It's going to take a while for this pain to go away. I screamed out loud when I started the generator and it [the new ventilation system] worked.

"I have a load of DIY to finish it properly, but the principle works."

MacArthur first ran into problems when she realised her main generator had been using up too much oil to last the length of her journey.

And the heat produced by the back-up generator caused the cabin to reach temperatures of 48 degrees.

It melted some of the surrounding components and was causing exhaust fumes to fill the cabin area, making it uninhabitable.

The rough seas made MacArthur's task even harder, and she spent a sleepless night making the repairs.