REPORTS that Ellen MacArthur is seeking another home in Cowes to accommodate all the trophies she has won since her success in the Vendee Globe might be exaggerated but are not without foundation.

In the past two weeks, she has won the FICO-Lacoste World Championship 2001 and the BBC TV South Sports Personality of the Year Award.

She is also a contender for the BBC's national Sports Personality title, competing against David Beckham and boxers Lennox Lewis and Audley Harrison, and in January she will find out whether she has won the YJA Yachtsman of the Year, for the second time, in the British Nautical Awards.

Her nomination, earned after a sensational year in which she came second in both the Vendee and the recent Transat Jacques Vabre, was revealed this week when the British Nautical Awards announced the 2001 shortlist.

Simon Curwen, who took a remarkable second place in the single-handed Mini-Transat Race and local powerboat duo Ian Sanderson and Peter Dredge will also be vying for the main prize, which will be awarded at a glitzy ceremony in London in the new year.

All nominees for the MDL YJA Young Sailor of the Year come from Hampshire and reflect an outstanding year for the region's youth.

John Pink, 18, and Tom Weeks, 17, from Hill Head won the 29er World Championship in Kingston, Canada and successfully defended their titles at both the National and European Championships.

Mark Powell of Hayling Island won gold in the Laser Class at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Crozon-Morgat, France and was first at the Youth Nationals held in Largs, Scotland. Victoria Rawlinson, 17, and Emma Rawlinson, 16, of Farnham won gold at the 2000 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships held in Sydney, Australia and a silver medal six months later at the 2001 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships.

One of Lymington's most famous sailors has also been nominated for the Challenge Business Offshore Yachtsman of the Year award alongside MacArthur.

Eighty-nine-year-old Helen Tew sailed with her son Donald, 60, across the Atlantic twice in an inspirational voyage. Tew completed the voyage in a 26ft gaff-rigged cutter 'Mary Helen' that she helped her late husband design more than 60 years ago.