ELLEN MacARTHUR last night sealed her place in history when she became the fastest person to sail round the world non-stop, reaching the finish line just before 10.30pm on her 72nd day at sea and taking one day and eight hours off the previous 72-day, 22-hour record.

MacArthur brought her 75ft trimaran, B&Q, close to the lighthouse on Ushant Island on the Brittany coast, after an extraordinary voyage of some 27,300 miles, where Claude Breton, of the World Speed Sailing Record Council, was waiting to log her finish. Her unratified time for circling the globe was 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

Immediately after B&Q passed the lighthouse, MacArthur’s shore team and hundreds of supporters in Falmouth, where MacArthur will make her return at about 11am this morning, kicked off the celebrations with champagne and cheers.

Awaiting MacArthur at the line on the Royal Navy patrol vessel, HMS Severn, were members of her shore team, ready to sail with her to Falmouth. Also on board was Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail non-stop solo round the world, in 1968-69, alongside whom MacArthur ranks as among the greatest solo sailors of all time.

Within an hour of crossing the line, MacArthur spoke on the satellite link of her relief and joy at achieving this toughest of goals. “When I crossed the line, I felt like collapsing on the cockpit floor and just falling asleep,” she said. “I was absolutely over the moon. It was the fact that you could finally let go — that when you cross the line, you don’t have to worry any more. That was the biggest emotion — it was one of elation but also one of huge relief.”

MacArthur said that she had not expected to beat the record set by Francis Joyon last year at her first attempt. “I thought it was beatable and Francis agreed his record was beatable, but to do it first time, I didn’t think that was possible,” she said. “It’s been a huge challenge — a real mix of highs and lows.”

Asked what she was most looking forward to when she gets ashore, MacArthur said that it was having the chance to be reunited with her family. “One thing I’d like to do is see my family because they’ve suffered through this with me and it will be fantastic to be able to see them and let them see that I’m OK,” she said.

Immediately after MacArthur had finished, Joyon said: “I always said that Ellen was a serious contender and I can see today that she has decided to prove me right. The mere fact that she was able to sail around the world non-stop was quite an exploit, but to smash the record at the same time fully deserves my warmest congratulations.”

Mark Turner, the project director for the record attempt, was thrilled and relieved as MacArthur completed a dream that on many occasions looked beyond her reach. “It’s a feeling of relief,” he said. “We knew it was going to be pretty hard. We thought we might have to have two or three goes at it. I am very glad we do not have to have another go because I’m not sure whether she or the rest of us could deal with a second time.”

The record came after yet another sleepless and cold night and after MacArthur had spent her final day pushing B&Q as hard as she dared after two months at sea, during which she had battled Southern Ocean storms, light winds in the Atlantic and the extreme psychological stress of sailing against an unforgiving clock on a dangerous boat that could have capsized at any moment.

MacArthur is expected to be greeted by thousands of wellwishers when she arrives in Falmouth, from where she set sail for the start line on November 27. Like Knox-Johnston before her, she, too, will be able to reply to the customs officers’ formal inquiry “where from?” with the one word: “Falmouth.”

“I’m very much looking forward to getting in, to seeing all the team, my friends and family and all the supporters,” MacArthur said. “I can’t wait to get in. It’s been a very, very long trip.”

Turner said that he believes few can truly understand just how difficult and challenging this experience has been for the 28-year-old yachtswoman from Derbyshire. “She has achieved more than anyone on the outside could ever be able to understand,” he said. “She has had to dig deeper and go farther than she expected, than her support team expected, to get round the world in one piece and in the time she has done.”

In the view of some, this record and MacArthur’s other achievements, which include second place in the 2000-01 Vendée Globe single-handed round-the-world race and two transatlantic race wins, put her at the top of a distinguished league in solo offshore ocean racing. Turner, however, said that it is difficult to compare MacArthur’s achievement in a modern, technologically advanced boat, with a full shore team behind her, with what the great solo sailors accomplished in the past.

“I could never put Ellen or anyone else above Knox- Johnston for what he did in his time, Francis Chichester for what he did, or Chay Blyth — the technology and the world has moved on, so it’s very difficult to compare,” he said. “But I certainly think she merits to be mentioned in same paragraph as those people.”