The Ellen MacArthur story is not just about sailing, rather one of human endeavour - and here it is, from land-locked Derbyshire girl to 'Yachtsman of the Year', in a flash...

Ellen MacArthur MISSION STATEMENT

The 75-foot trimaran has been designed and constructed with one sole objective - to set new solo speed sailing records to enable Ellen to become the fastest solo sailor on the planet. The trimaran races under the colours of title sponsors Castorama and B&Q, the two major DIY retail brands within the Kingfisher group.

“I have always loved the ocean, and always loved the sea. In 2001, during a busy season’s racing on a 60-foot trimaran, I realised that there was undoubtedly a different kind of sailing out there that I had not experienced. Multihull sailing was challenging, exhilarating, fast and right on the edge...the boats are both graceful and powerful, almost more like flying than sailing for most of the time. I began to realise that they were going to play a big part in my future.

The voyaging aspect of these projects has always inspired me, as has the attraction of essentially living basically submerged in, and surrounded by, nature. I am not phased by the fact that this project involves racing against the clock, and not racing against other boats... I have always felt more comfortable at sea when there are no other boats on the horizon, and my thoughts right now are of flying along alone.

The transatlantic record attempt that we failed to break by just 75 minutes was hard to accept at the time - all that hard-fought effort and not to get the record was tough to accept. But that is the nature of record attempts - they are not easy to achieve and every attempt is a huge learning curve about the limits of the trimaran and myself.

The focus for the round the world record attempt will be solo and fast, backed as ever by a great team of sponsors and people. But, there is no doubt, it is a huge, huge challenge and Francis Joyon set an almost unbelievable pace - to break his 72-day benchmark is a very big ask. It might well take more then one attempt to do this - there is an element of luck I can’t control even if I get everything else right.

For me, racing against the clock is as rewarding as racing against others, and there is always the continuous race - the race against yourself.”

Ellen MacArthur
Skipper, trimaran B&Q

Ellen will be aiming to set other solo speed sailing records in her quest to become the fastest sailor on the planet during the lifetime of the B&Q trimaran.  Other solo world sailing speed records could include:

24-hour speed record
Current holder: Laurent Bourgnon
‘Primagaz’ 60ft trimaran
540 miles (June 1994)

Transatlantic (west-east Ambrose Point to Lizard Point)
Current holder: Laurent Bourgnon
‘Primagaz’ 60ft trimaran
7 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes, 42 seconds (June 1994)

Shanghai-London
Current holder: Philippe Monnet
‘Elle et Vire’ 60ft trimaran
67 days, 10 hours, 26 minutes (1989/1990)

Round Britain & Ireland
Current holder: Peter Keig
‘Zeal’ 38ft monohull
18 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds (October 2001)

Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda
Current holder: Steve Fossett
‘Lakota’ 60ft trimaran
1 day, 16 hours, 51 minutes, 54 seconds (June 1999)

Yokohama-San Francisco
Current holder: Steve Fossett
‘Lakota’ 60ft trimaran
20 days, 9 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds (August 1996)

Ellen MacArthur CAREER HIGHS AND LOWS

Pre-1994
• Aged four,  Ellen MacArthur began sailing with aunt on ‘Cabaret’, all spare time reading sailing books.
• Started saving school dinner money at the age of eight to buy her first boat.
• First boat at 13 (‘Threpenny Bit’, dinghy), second at 15 (‘Kestrel’, small keelboat), then third at 17 (‘Iduna’, 21-foot Corribee).

1994
• Debut into full-time yachting, working on an Open 60ft yacht and teaching sailing to adults at the David King Nautical School in Hull.
• Achieved RYA Yachtmaster and Instructor’s ticket, aged 18 (exceptionally young).

1995
• BT/YJA Young Sailor of Year award.
• Sailed ‘Iduna’ single-handed around Great Britain.

1996
• First transatlantic passage leaving Newport, Rhode Island (USA) on Ellen’s 20th birthday.
• First transatlantic race in the Quebec-St Malo. Result: 3rd in class.

1997
• Mini Transat single-handed transatlantic race in 26-foot boats. Result: 17th overall.

1998
• February - Teamed up with Mark Turner at Offshore Challenges.
• November - Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race from St Malo to Guadeloupe on board Open 50ft monohull ‘Kingfisher’. Result: 1st in Open 50 class (20 days, 11 hours, 44 mins, 49 secs).

1999
• January - Won BT/YJA Yachtsman of the Year Award.
• June - Round Europe race on board Open 60ft ‘Aquitaine Innovations’. Co-skipper with Yves Parlier. Result: 1st in Open 60 class.
• August - Fastnet Race on board 60ft trimaran ‘Kingfisher’. Co-skipper with Yvan Bourgnon. Result: 4th in multihull class.
• November - Transat Jaques Vabre two-handed transatlantic race on board 60ft monohull ‘Aquitaine Innovations-Kingfisher’ with co-skipper Yves Parlier from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Result: 6th in Open 60 class.

2000
• March-May - Delivery of Open 60 monohull ‘Kingfisher’ from New Zealand, following her launch in January.
• June - Europe1 New Man STAR solo transatlantic race on board ‘Kingfisher’. Result: 1st in Open 60 class (14 days, 23 hours, 11 mins) - youngest person to ever win race.
• November-February 2001 - Vendée Globe solo, non-stop round the world race. Result: 2nd (94 days, 4 hours, 25 mins, 40 secs) - fastest female and youngest sailor to race around the world solo, non-stop.

2001
• May - Challenge Mondial Assistance on board 60ft trimaran ‘Foncia-Kingfisher’ with co-skipper Alain Gautier.
• 3 July-25 August - EDS Atlantic Challenge crewed five leg race from St Malo with stops at Hamburg, Portsmouth, Baltimore, Boston on board ‘Kingfisher’ with co-skipper Nick Moloney. Result: 1st place overall.

Also on 60ft trimaran KINGFISHER-FONCIA during 2001 season:
• 30 April-5 May - Trophee Coralia at Fecamp. Result: 2nd19-24 June - Sardinia Grand Prix.
• 30 Aug-2 September - Fecamp Grand Prix. Result: 1st.
• 11-16 September - Zebrugge Grand Prix. Result: 2nd.
• 4th November - Transat Jacques Vabre two-handed transatlantic race from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil with co-skipper Alain Gautier. Result: 2nd in the ORMA 60 class.

2002
• January - Ellen MacArthur and Kingfisher plc announce five year plan to include Jules Verne record attempt and culminating in the solo Route du Rhum race in November 2006.
• 9-23 November - Route du Rhum solo transatlantic race from St Malo to Guadeloupe on board ‘Kingfisher’. Result: 1st in Open 60 class (13 days, 13 hours, 31 mins, 47 secs) setting a new monohull record.

2003
• January - Jules Verne record attempt on board 110-foot catamaran ‘Kingfisher2’ departing on 30.1.04 with 14 crew to try and break the existing record of 64 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 24 seconds. Kingfisher2’s record attempt ended on 23 February when the boat dismasted in the Southern Ocean, 2000 miles from the coast of Australia.
• April - Announced build of new 75-foot trimaran to race in the colours of B&Q and Castorama. The sole objective of the new trimaran is to attempt to break solo speed sailing records.
• November - Transat Jacques Vabre two-handed transatlantic race from Le Havre to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil on board 60-foot multihull ‘Foncia’ with co-skipper Alain Gautier. Result 9th overall (suffered sail/halyard damage on day two of race).

2004
• January - Launch of new 75-foot B&Q trimaran on 8.1.04 in Sydney, Australia.
• March-April - Delivery trip of new trimaran from New Zealand via Australia and the Falklands Islands. Leaving the delivery crew at the Falklands, Ellen sailed B&Q solo to New York.
• June - Solo transatlantic record attempt on board B&Q missing the record by just 75 minutes in a time of 7 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes, 57 seconds.

2005

February -  Dame Ellen MacArthur has completed her single-handed round-the-world voyage in record-breaking time.

She crossed the finish line at 2230 GMT on Monday 7th February, beating the previous mark set by Frenchman Francis Joyon of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 mins and 22 secs.  The Isle of Wight-based yachtswoman completed the 27,000-mile voyage in 71 days and under 13 hours.

Dame Ellen MacArthur said: "I feel absolutely exhausted but I'm elated to be here. It has been an unbelievable journey."

Accolades

ISAF World Champion election of Woman Sailor of the Year by 113 sailing Federations throughout the world.
Awarded 14.11.01

“The Cup of the Chief of Staff of the French Navy” awarded 30.11.01

FICO World Champion ranked by number of points obtained in the year’s ocean races awarded 7.12.01

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards overall runner-up (2nd place to David Beckham) plus ‘Helen Rollason Award’ awarded 9.12.01

‘Sunday Times Woman of the Year’ awarded 11.12.01

MBE awarded 12.12.01 at Buckingham Palace by Queen

Nomination for the title of “Femme en Or” (“Golden Woman”) sport-adventure in France election on 15.12.01

Ellen MacArthur PERSONAL FACTS

Born: 8 July 1976

Age: 28

Lives: grew up Whatstandwell, Derbyshire now lives Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK

Family: parents Ken and Avril MacArthur and two brothers

Ocean miles: estimated to have sailed over 220,000 miles (close to 10 times around the world!)

Charities: Ellen MacArthur Trust, set up to support, empower and enliven young people suffering from cancer or leukaemia by taking them on sailing trips.