Photos: Ellen McArthur's new boat

Seb Josse is the BT IMOCA 60 skipper. He is an acclaimed French racing yachtsman with a previous attempt at the Vendée Globe already under his belt in 2004. He also skippered ABN AMRO 2 in the 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race and holds the 24-hour monohull record of a 562.96-mile run.

For Josse, the technology at his disposal - through which he receives up-to-the-minute weather and navigation reports from his support team on dry land and sends video reports for the media - is a boon.

He said: "This communication gives us a tremendous advantage. It's the future. It's easy to send pictures to the outside world to explain what it is like to sail single-handed around the world. I can connect to the web to get weather information. I can get a weather prediction for the next five to six days."

Photo credit: Julian Goldsmith