Ellen MacArthur, a real dame

This year’s Isle of Wight Round the Island Race was a great day on the water. I had the chance to go sailing on practice day with Ben Ainslie helming Team Origin’s Extreme 40 Catamaran, then on the race itself with Dame Ellen MacArthur and Sebastien Josse. I’ll settle for that.

Ainslie had only helmed the cat for the first time on Friday morning before our afternoon sail but he had the Volvo Ocean race winning skipper Mike Sanderson ready to de-power the main if a tip looked on the cards.

I had expected the race to be a bit of a procession but there were some great duals around the back of the island off Bembridge when the wind died. The after-deck on ICAP Leopard is clearly not used to anyone trying to take its wind and Josse had a lot of fun doing just that.

Most of the day was spent chewing the fat on deck with Ellen MacArthur. I’d been looking forward to meeting her for some time but hadn’t wanted a set piece interview with PRs looking over our shoulders - more of a natural conversation if that could be possible. And that’s exactly what happened. I think I had read somewhere that she is quiet and reserved. Not true. But she’s her own woman all right.

Lots of people are rightly suspicious of journalists and those in the public eye need to be particularly guarded. I didn’t want to pry in to her private life but at no stage did she put up any shutters. If you’ve read her autobiography you will know as much about her as you could know about anyone.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be pointed out and photographed everywhere you go – wearing I should think. It’s probably why she stays on the Isle of Wight most of the time. But at least people are friendly there. There’s none of the lampooning today that happened after she rose to fame during the 2001 Vendee Globe.

I’m not the star struck type and I would run a mile from celebrity interviews but MacArthur has real star quality – beauty too. It’s the eyes and the inner woman that sort of glows. It’s difficult to explain without seeming smitten.

When I mentioned to two friends that I would be meeting her, they said: “Oh yes, she was the fastest on Top Gear wasn’t she.” No mention of her extensive sailing achievements. How quickly people forget. Or maybe they were surprised, as people are continually surprised, by the depth of her determination.

There are a lot of egos out there in sailing and some people are very good at disguising them in the presence of journalists. But I think that what you see is what you get and what you get in Ellen MacArthur is a team player who makes time for people where she can – given the demands on her time. She came a long way very quickly in her teens and dealing with so much fame so soon must have been tough. Now she handles it like a professional. It’s the only way.

At the end of the day she didn’t rush off but came up to the bar tent for a beer. She wasn’t bossy as I’d feared she might be. But she was enthusiastic, infectiously so, about her passions – sailing, sustainability (a big one) and her charity. She seems to draw inspiration from the strengths of the children she meets who are suffering from cancer or leukaemia, and they must do likewise from her own achievements.

I suspect we’re going to hear a lot from her soon in the sustainability movement. She speaks about the environment and the ecology with a campaigning fervour and she knows her stuff. It’s what we need.

I liked her a lot. Top woman, Dame Ellen MacArthur.

NB. Top picture: Seb Josse with Ellen MacArthur.
Lower picture: Working our rocks off on the rail of the BT Open 60. Picture credit: onEdition.

Round the Island Race

Come and join ICAP Leopard for the Isle of Wight Round the Island Race this weekend, said the ICAP team who hope to break the race record to add to a string of other records they have broken of late.

It would have been quite something to have been out on the rail of this super-maxi and back in Cowes for lunch. Sadly I had another commitment - sea kayaking with friends, off the Isle of Wight ironically.

It should be quite a sight, watching close on 1,900 entries competing in what must be Britain's most popular yacht race. If you're out there and you see four canoes bobbing around on the water as you're approaching The Needles do give us a wave.