Ellen macarthur autobiography

Taking on the World by Ellen MacArthur


"I've just read this marvellous book," said my friend "would you like to borrow it? It's Ellen MacArthur's autobiography". Her son had given her the book on Mother's Day. I could understand that. Her son's a sailor, although aircraft carriers are more his thing than single-handed ocean racers. I've no connection with the sea, or sailing, but I didn't like to refuse and the book came home with me.

Ellen MacArthur had no connection with the sea either. She lived in land-locked Derbyshire, but her aunt had a boat and at the age of eight the salt water got into her veins. Boats don't come cheap, but Ellen was determined to have her own and she saved part of her school dinner money for three years so that she could buy her first boat, an eight-foot dinghy.

Ellen had originally wanted to be a vet, but fate intervened. Whilst she was studying for 'A' levels she caught glandular fever and had little to do but watch television whilst she recovered. At the time there was extensive coverage of the Whitbread round-the-world race and Ellen realised

Race Against Time

Just after 10.00 on the night of February 7th 2004, Ellen MacArthur crossed an imaginary line in the sea off Brittany to become the fastest person ever to sail solo round the world. The record was held by a Frenchman, Francis Joyon. He'd slashed over 20 days off the previous record and many thought his extraordinary new benchmark would stand for 10 years or more. Most experts thought that the record would be beyond MacArthur. But in a superhuman effort that forced her to dig deeper than ever before, she proved the doubters wrong. Her effort captured the world's imagination and the scenes that greeted her return to Falmouth were euphoric. She had become, some claimed, the finest sailor her country had every produced. Drawing on logs, emails, sound and video diaries, this beautifully designed, fully illustrated book captures the drama, excitement, danger, joy and tears of a truly extraordinary achievement - in Ellen's own words.

Ellen MacArthur

Long-distance yachtswoman

For the economic historian, see Ellen McArthur.

Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthurDBE (born 8 July 1976) is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.

MacArthur is a successful solo long-distance yachtswoman. On 7 February 2005, she broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, a feat which gained her international renown.[1]Francis Joyon, the Frenchman who had held the record before MacArthur, was able to recover the record again in early 2008.[2]

Following her retirement from professional sailing on 2 September 2010, MacArthur announced the launch of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity that works with business and education to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

She once held the top spot on the UK Top Gear show for fastest star in a reasonably priced car.

Early life

MacArthur was born in Derbyshire[3] where she lived with her parents, who were both teachers, and two brothers Fer

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