In February 2005 Ellen sets a new solo non-stop round the world record
of
71 Days, 14 hours, 18
minutes, 33 seconds
on board 75ft Trimaran
B&Q (AKA - Mobi)
Ellen's challenge started on 28th November, 2004, her boat was a 75-foot multihull
B&Q, affectionately named 'Mobi'. These multihulls are faster on the high seas, but also prone
to capsizing. Only one other solo sailor had circumnavigated the globe in a multihull, Francis Joyon of France,
and he had done it just the year before. Ellen's voyage would last 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, 33 seconds,
and she survived on stores of freeze-dried meals and desalinated sea water. The trip was an formidable one,
with tremendous physical and mental hardships, but perhaps worst of all was the need to keep constant watch on
the unpredictable sea. Ellen could sleep only in 15- to 30-minute intervals. The boat was regularly
buffeted by wind gusts that could reach 65 miles per hour, and twice she was forced to scale the 98 foot mast
to repair the main sail.
Ellen's supporters avidly followed her progress on the Team Ellen Website. The website was fantastic, Ellen's shore team provided the very
latest news 24/7 and supporters were able to view Ellens wind speed, boat speed and actual global
possition. For a time, Ellen lost her lead over Joyon's voyage because of wind conditions, but then a
storm pushed her ahead and she began to make excellent progress. In an online diary she kept, Ellen
wrote of South Atlantic storms on 15th January. "Everything is creaking and groaning and smashing and grinding
it's just terrible, and you go over three waves and you close your eyes and hope it's okay, then the fourth one
whack. I'm sure something is going to break." Two weeks later, she reported a near-collision. "I saw
a whale very, very close to the boat it was just in front of us, and we sailed right over it," she wrote on 29th
January. "It went underneath our starboard float and, as it went underneath us, it blew its air tanks out
and its nose came out of the water."
On Monday, 7th February, Ellen and Mobi crossed an imaginary finish line
between Ushant, France, and the Lizard peninsula of the southwest coast of England. After a journey of 27,353
miles, she arrived at the Cornwall port of Falmouth the following day, and was met by a crowd of 8,000
well-wishers. Ellen beat Joyon's record by an entire day, and was informed that Queen Elizabeth II had
bestowed the title "Dame" on her for her achievement.
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