Ellen MacArthur
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Dame Ellen MacArthur DBE |
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MacArthur in 2007
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| Born |
8 July 1976 Whatstandwell, Derbyshire, England |
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| Occupation | Sailor and charity founder | ||
| Known for | Previous holder of fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in a yacht | ||
| Website | EllenMacarthur |
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Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE (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.Francis Joyon, the Frenchman who had held the record before MacArthur, recovered the record again in early 2008, beating MacArthur's record by nearly two weeks. 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.
MacArthur was born in Derbyshire where she lived with her parents, who were both teachers, and two brothers Fergus and Lewis,who now live in Pennsylvania. She acquired her early interest in sailing, firstly by her desire to emulate her idol at the time, Sophie Burke, and secondly by reading Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of books. She has since become the Patron of the Nancy Blackett Trust which owns and operates Ransome's yacht, Nancy Blackett.
Her first experience of sailing was on a boat owned by her aunt Thea MacArthur on the east coast of England. She saved her school dinner money for three years to buy her first boat, an eight-foot dinghy, which she named Threp'ny Bit even though decimalisation had taken place before she was born. She sellotaped a real 'threepenny bit' coin onto the bow.
MacArthur attended Wirksworth County Infants and Junior Schools and the Anthony Gell School and also worked at a sailing school in Hull. When she was 17, MacArthur bought a Corribee and named it Iduna; she described the first moment she saw it as "love at first sight". In 1995 she sailed Iduna single-handed on a circumnavigation of Great Britain.
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