Round-the-world yachts-woman Ellen MacArthur returned to Southampton yesterday to a rapturous reception.

The heroine of the Vendee Globe race arrived at the Boat Show to help launch a new interactive on-line game - as well as giving two 11-year-old sailors the chance to take to the high seas with their idol.

Twins Ben and Tim Saxton are billed to be bright hopes for Britain's future in international sailing.

They were put through their paces by Ellen before she helped to launch the on-line Ocean Race Challenge.

The game charts the adventures of the Volvo Ocean Race and goes live at the boat show on September 23 - the same day the real Volvo Ocean Race sets sail.

Finalists will then be invited to take part in a gripping live play-off at the London Boat Show in January which could net winners the chance to take part in a real-life ocean race worth £50,000.

Entrants who do not make the final can still play on-line at the London Boat Show in January for the chance to win a daily prize worth £5,000.

Other stars of this year's Southampton show include the extraordinary Sunseek-er 94 Yacht, worth a cool £3m.

Hundreds of people, most of whom have trouble paying for the family saloon, took advantage of guided tours around the magnificent vessel during the fourth day of the boat show yesterday.

Even if you can afford the price, the yacht still costs around £300,000 a year to run.

Last year's showstopper from Sunseek-er, the 105, is worth even more with an asking price of around £5m.

One of the luxurious craft is owned by the Jordan Formula One motor racing team's owner, Eddie Jordan.

But Peter Langridge, skipper of the 94, who has also crewed for the flamboyant Irishman, was keeping tight-lipped about the antics of the Jordan team while they are on board.

The boat show is Europe's largest on-water exhibition and it has cost £2m to stage it this year.

Over the ten days it is open, it is expected to attract 120,000 visitors.

Keeping a watchful eye on Sunseeker's stand were the men from The Ian Fleming Foundation who are exhibiting five boats from the world-famous James Bond movies for the first time in the UK.

The vessels include an underwater "tow-sled" from the 1965 adventure Thunderball and a "Bath-o-sub" from Diamonds are Forever.

The vehicle was used by Bond's arch-enemy, Blofeld, to escape from an oil drilling platform that doubled as his headquarters.

The collection is worth around $1.3m and is normally housed in the United States. Foundation vice-president Douglas Redenius said he was hoping to persuade Sunseeker to donate one of its vessels which was used in the Thames chase sequence in the Bond film The World is not Enough.

But as the boat is worth around £400,000, he said it would take a lot to persuade the company to part with it.

He said: "It would be good for them. You could not buy that kind of publicity."