Ellen MacArthur - Article

Ellen MacArthur is now an retired British sailor. In her days, back in 2005 she started her journey to achieve one thing, sail around the world alone! So she sat out on the big journey alone trying to beat the old record sat by Francis Joyon. Ellen knew it was dangerous, if something happend on the boat, there was no one else than her self who needed to take care of it. When she was out, she couldn't sleep for any longer than 20 minutes a time. What a pressure that would have on her body. She wasn't able to take any shower either, but she didn't  mind at all, there was no one around who could tell her that she smelled bad. After 71 days, 14 hours and 18 minutes she came back to the coast of France. When she crossed the finish line, she felt like just falling asleep right on the ground. Sore hands which was full of salt and she was very, very exhausted.

"When i crossed the finish line I felt like collapsing on the floor and just falling asleep. I was absolutely over the moon. The whole voyage has been draining, and there are a lot of things going around in my head. But it's great that i can finally switch my brain off and relax in the company of others, which i've really missed." -Ellen MacArthur.

Because of this great achievment of her, she was given the title of the queen: "Dame Commander of the British Empire" which was huge, and she was the youngest person to achiev this, she was only 28 years old.

Ellen grew up in a part of England, Derbyshire, she was inspired by her aunt in age of four, when she took Ellen for a boat trip. Since then her life has been focused on sailing and contests. In the age of eight, Ellen had been sparing alot of money to buy her own boat, but when she came last in a sailing contest at school 2 years later, she was so upset and she promised herself that she was not going to lose any sailing contest again, and she was right.