Full Circle by Ellen Macarthur

Author:Ellen Macarthur
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141964577
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-04-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Nothing could have prepared me for the feeling I had as I walked up and on to the stage outside the Maritime Museum. There were literally thousands of people, waving, cheering. It was too much to take in that everyone had come here, to Falmouth, to see Mobi and me come home, and I found myself smiling, with two words bouncing round my brain: ‘thank you’. Individual moments stand out: I remember seeing that huge digital clock which had been placed on the stage behind me – STOPPED! That was it, it was over, done and dusted.

I was joined on stage by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, a man whose exploits I had studied as a child. It was the second time he had stood on a stage beside me, as he was joint Yachtsman of the Year when I won the Young Sailor of the Year award aged eighteen, almost exactly ten years before. Robin was the first person in history to sail solo non-stop round the world, and I was over the moon to share my homecoming with him. Robin knew what this was all about. He not only understood what it was like to sail solo round the world, but later became one of the few people to have done it crewed in a multihull. There we stood, as my good friend the sailing presenter Richard Simmonds, our MC, stated, ‘the first; and the fastest’. What a memorable moment in my life.

After I spoke on the stage and answered Richard’s questions, I talked about the Southern Ocean and the storms we had weathered. But, as I spoke, I felt uncomfortable, and to some extent insincere; I really felt I had not achieved the record on my own. Even in my first hours since crossing the finish line I knew that what had brought me the most pleasure in the whole project was the spirit we had in the team: those incredible individuals who had brought so much to all that we did, who had kept me going when times had been difficult, not only through their e-mails at the time, but through the sheer amount they had given of themselves to the project. ‘I’m very proud to have the round-the-world record, but I’m even more proud to be working with the best team of people as far as I’m concerned in the whole world.’ They were inspirational people in their own right, and I was so proud to know them all. For me sharing this high point with them was priceless.

At this moment they came up on to the stage to join me, and for me the day could have ended there. It was perfect, we were together, we had done it, and it was over …

Looking back on the videos of the finish there was one question I was asked just as I was leaving the stage steps: ‘Is this the best day of your life?’

I paused briefly before answering: ‘I’m sure that’s still to come –

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