Wednesday April 12, 2006 The Guardian

　　Sailing to establish a record on the notorious "cotton run" of the Ming Dynasty was anything but easy for Dame Ellen MacArthur and her three-man crew on the 75-foot trimaran B&Q.

　　The 256-mile passage from Qingdao to Shangha i is obscured by constant fog, fishing nets and heavy commercial shipping traffic, yet it was achieved in 29 hours 25 minutes 33 seconds, well inside the B&Q team's self- imposed target.

　　It was, according to MacArthur, "the toughest leg so far as fog, fog and more fog made this leg like a game of russian roulette".