This week saw Ben Ainslie abandon his bid to break the transatlantic sailing record for a monhull following storm damage to the mainsail of his yacht.

The Team GB Olympic star, who was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire after excelling at the Olympic Games in Sydney, was not the only one left disappointed by the decision to stop the attempt.

He was part of a large crew which included Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin group, and 22 other people. Branson has been attempting to break speed records for decades now.

In 1986, he managed to break a record which had stood for over 30 years by manning a speedboat across the Atlantic. He has also been involved in several hot air ballooning record attempts.

The group left New York in a 99-foot racing yacht owned by Branson last Wednesday, desperately wanting to break the record which still stands at 6 days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds.

Ben Ainslie, who is yet to cross the Atlantic, stated his belief that the attempt is “hugely significant” in terms of making history in the world of sailing. He revealed that he would love to break the record and his excitement was echoed by other members of the crew.

They managed to cover about 150 miles during the opening hours of the attempt, but weather conditions soon intervened and brought an end to their dreams. Winds of 50 knots created massive 25-foot waves, one of which took a lift raft from the yacht.

Richard Branson tried to explain exactly what happened during the storm. He revealed how “the storm blew a spinnaker” which managed to rip the mainsail of the yacht. Although the crew tried desperately to repair the damage, the rip was far too deep.

Mike Sanderson, the co-skipper of the boat, said that the crew, which included Richard Branson’s son and daughter, had been prepared for tough weather conditions. He is now looking forward to the crew’s next attempt to break the world record.

The owner of the yacht, which was designed by Juan Kuoyoumidjian, designer of Team Origin (Britain’s challenger for the America’s Cup), believes that it will be ready to hit the waters again in just a few weeks and reiterated the desire of the entire crew to “get the record” eventually.

Ben Ainslie has revealed that the yacht definitely has the potential to break the record and remains confident that he will be successful in his ambition at some point in the near future.

The Olympic hero has also become involved with Britain’s America’s Cup campaign. However, for now he is primarily focussing his energies on preparing to defend his Olympic Finn title at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Worryingly for Ainslie’s close rivals, he believes that the combination of the America’s Cup and the Olympic Games is an effective one: “Last time I combined preparing for the Olympics with the America’s Cup [...] it made me a better sailor”.