Esteemed sailor Mike Sanderson must be wondering just what is it going to take to shatter his own trans-Atlantic monohull speed record he set five-years ago onboard the 140-foot, twin masted schooner Mari-Cha IV.

Twice in the past three months the 36-year-old Kiwi has had to abort trans-Atlantic speed record attempts as skipper of Alex Jackson's 100 foot maxi, Speedboat, which was launched in New Zealand earlier this year.

Shortly after steering Speedboat first across the Newport to Bermuda Race finish line in July, Sanderson's joy turned to despair after a broken dagger board put paid to all hopes of eclipsing the existing trans-Atlantic mark (six days, 17 hours, 52 minutes and 39 seconds).

A second record attempt last week also proved fruitless as the wealth of British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, a new paint scheme and an alias (Virgin Money) still could not guarantee Sanderson and crew success.

This time a torn main sail, sustained in cruel weather conditions, forced the Kiwi skipper to switch from competitive to survival mode and take refuge in the protected confines of Bermuda's shores.

Though unexpected in nature, it was Sanderson's second visit to Bermuda this year following his first brief stopover last May when he lectured young sailors at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC).

He also dazzled curious onlookers while setting Hamilton Harbour ablaze with a gutsy display of sailing at the helm of the Royal Bank of Scotland's Extreme V40 racing catamaran.

Describing last week's ordeal on the high seas, Sanderson told The Royal Gazette: "This was always going to be a really tough record to try and go after; we left (New York) in really tough forecasts. It was just a wet and wild ride."

It is a rollercoaster ride the sailor, commonly referred to as 'Moose', won't hesitate to do all over again as he continues a bid to surpass his own record.

"We were close to achieving our objective, but in the end things didn't work out in our favour.

"This boat is the right boat for it (record); it's very fast," he added.

"Everything must be aligned just perfectly when you are working towards something like this. You have to hope for six days of weather that's going to play ball.

"We hit some really tough stuff, but it's always nice to be in Bermuda and so we can't complain about that."

Also onboard the 100 foot maxi last week was England's three-time Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie, who beat Swede Mattias Rahm (3-1) in the petite final of this month's King Edward VII Gold Cup.

"Bermuda was the last place we expected to end up on a trans-Atlantic challenge, but it was certainly a very pleasant relief from the conditions we saw a day or so ago," a weather -beaten Ainslie told The Royal Gazette.

The top British sailor admitted aborting the record attempt proved a bitter pill to swallow but remains confident he and his fellow crewmembers will eventually achieve their primary objective in the not-too-distant future.

"It is pretty disappointing because a lot of effort goes into these record attempts. A lot of people worked seriously hard pushing the boat as hard as we could and so it is a bit disappointing. But that's the nature of this sort of challenge," Ainslie said.

"We felt our chances of breaking the record were great as the boat is incredibly powerful and we have a good team onboard.

"We thought we had the ideal weather to do it, but unfortunately we had an issue with the main sail that ripped and the weather didn't turn right for us. The wisest and safest thing to do was pull out and come here and regroup."

He added: "The boat is just so powerful that even when you are sailing along normally it feels as though you are about to take off. But Sir Richard (Branson) is very keen to keep going because he doesn't like to leave things unfinished – and neither do the rest of us.

"I'm sure we are going to have another crack at it in the near future, and we are all keen to come back."

In June of this year Bermudian sailor Jonathan Carter and his fellow ICAP Leopard3 crewmates set a new trans-Atlantic powered sailing systems record after completing the 2,925 nautical mile crossing from New York to England in seven days, 19 hours and 21 minutes.