Sailing: Cheering fans and chilly winds for Dame Ellen

Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur sailed a lap of honour in her trimaran,
B&Q/Castorama, on the Thames yesterday as fans lined the banks to celebrate her return.

Yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur sailed a lap of honour in her trimaran, B&Q/Castorama, on the Thames yesterday as fans lined the banks to celebrate her return.

MacArthur, 28, who set the world record of 71 days and 14 hours for a solo circumnavigation of the globe last week, was cheered and clapped along a five mile stretch of the river between Greenwich and Tower Bridge.

James Parsons, 47, a yachting enthusiast from Southend-on-Sea, said: "It's nice to cheer on a real professional. She gets the mickey taken out of her for being so single-minded but that's what it takes."

MacArthur told a crowd of 800 near her berth beside the 19th-century tea clipper Cutty Sark, in its day the world's fastest ship: "To come home after being so alone to a reception like this is extraordinary."