MacArthur (left) and Davies will sail in different classes in the race

Extreme weather conditions have forced the multihull start of the Transat Jacques Vabres trans-Atlantic race to be delayed by up to three days.

British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur is among a 14-strong fleet storm-bound in Le Havre after forecasts of force nine winds and huge seas in the English Channel postponed the start of the race to Brazil.

"It will be unreasonable to send the trimarans out in such conditions, even if the skippers are capable of managing the boat through 40-45 knots of wind," said organiser Gerard Petipas.

"The English Channel is very narrow, there is no escape from these conditions and the shipping traffic is heavy.

"We will know more [on Sunday], if the conditions will allow us to start the fleet on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. It is already clear however, that the boats will not be leaving before Tuesday."

The 60-foot multihull class were due to leave at 1400 GMT on Sunday but the monohull class set off as planned on Saturday.

Because of the delay, the multihulls will no longer have to pass east of Ascension Island as they dive south towards Brazil.

MacArthur will sail the giant trimaran Foncia with Frenchman Alain Gautier in the two-handed voyage to Salvador de Bahia in the sixth edition of the double-handed race.

MacArthur will race on Foncia with Alain Gautier

The 27-year-old is one of a handful of Britons in the 5,200-mile race based on old coffee trading routes, which features a record field of 41 boats in four classes.

In the Open 60 monohull class, 29-year-old Briton Sam Davies partners Australian Nick Moloney on Team Cowes, Emma Richards sails on Pindar with Kiwi Mike Sanderson, and Mike Golding is joined by Brian Thompson on Ecover.

Other British racers include Alex Thomson, sailing with France's Roland Jourdain on the Open 60 monohull Sill Enterprise, and Conrad Humphreys on Hellomoto with Australian Paul Larsen.

In 1993, the first of the bi-ennial Transat Jacques Vabres was raced single-handed, before switching to double-handed in 1995.

Vendee Globe heroine MacArthur won the solo trans-Atlantic Route du Rhum race in November 2002 before being forced to abandon her Jules Verne round-the-world record attempt with a broken mast in February this year.

Her 14-strong team on the multihull Kingfisher 2 were chasing the record of 64 days set by Frenchman Bruno Peyron in May 2002.

MacArthur will return to solo sailing for her next project as she attempts to break up to four records over the next two years.