Hi-tech: Project member Alan Priddy

Skipper Alan Priddy and his crew also want to break the record from New York to Britain.

The 35ft rigid inflatable is due to arrive in Cardiff on June 2 for the opening of the �3bn Cardiff Bay barrage.

The powerboat left New York's South Street Seaport Museum on Saturday night for the official start point at Ambrose Light.

Skipper Alan Priddy and crew members Jan Falkowski, Steve Lloyd and Clive Tully will spend eight days on board the vessel.

"There will be sub-zero conditions for us to deal with any day now," said Priddy.

Last year we took the Adventurer's best record - Gibraltar to Monaco - away from them so they were smarting

Alan Priddy, skipper, Spirit of Cardiff

"We will work in four-hour shifts, sleeping if the conditions allow us."

The powerboat broke the record for circumnavigating the British Isles last year, in preparation for the world transatlantic record.

The Spirit of Cardiff also smashed more than an hour off the Cable and Wireless Adventurer's record for the Gibraltar-Monaco passage.

Now the Spirit's Cardiff-based crew have set their sights on the Adventurer's round the world record of 75 days.

"Last year we took their best record - Gibraltar to Monaco - away from them so they were smarting," said Priddy.

His team aim to slash the record to just 50 days next year.

Their immediate goal is to break the last two port-to-port records set by Adventurer in 1998, racing from New York to the Azores, and the Azores to Gibraltar.

Spirit's atlantic voyage will be made via St John's in Newfoundland.

The 170-mile detour is a tactical ploy to allow for an extra fuel stop between New York and the Azores.

This will mean the Spirit of Cardiff can run lighter and faster.

British record

Spirit of Cardiff is due to arrive in Cardiff at 1600BST on 2 June.

The �2m vessel will be the focal point at the opening of the Cardiff Bay Barrage, a multi-million pound construction to turn the tidal estuary of the Taff and Ely rivers into a 500-acre freshwater lake.

Last year, the crew began its record-breaking mission by circumnavigating the British Isles in a record five days, six hours and five minutes.

In 1997, they were the first crew to cross the North Atlantic in an open inflatable boat.