TO highlight the benefits of alternative energy sources, the first woman to row the Atlantic solo plans to enter the record books again next year by crossing it in a solar-powered “sail balloon”.

Backed by the best of French industry, Peggy Bouchet, 34, has captured the public’s imagination – and admiration – with her planned 3,000-mile journey from west Africa to the French West Indies. She aims to set off early next year.

Windream One, as her 90ft craft is known, is an odd-looking contraption which, from behind, is reminiscent more of a giant air mattress than a helium-filled balloon.

In a crisis such as an unscheduled landing on water, the gondola suspended beneath it would double as a survival capsule. The most unusual feature, however, is the chien de mer (“sea dog”), a curved, carbon-fibre fin which, when lowered by rope from the gondola into the ocean, acts as a ship’s keel, enabling the balloon to travel almost into the wind.

Windream One is powered by solar panels and wind turbines. “With any luck, this will help to raise people’s awareness of the possibilities of renewable energy,” said Bouchet, a sentiment supported by Theolia, the wind turbine manufacturer sponsoring her.

A graduate of Plymouth University, where she studied logistics and shipping management in 1994, Bouchet made her mark in 2000 by rowing the 2,485 miles from the Cape Verde Islands to Martinique. This time she will be flying between 150ft and 300ft above the waves at about 17mph. She and co-pilot Stéphane Rousson expect the journey to take 8-12 days.

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