This time last year, Ellen MacArthur was looking forward to the New Year and to being on her Open 60 Kingfisher careering across the Southern Ocean in the Vendee Globe.

It was to be her first time in the world's most dangerous seas but the 24-year-old yachtswoman from Cowes was undaunted.

Since MacArthur sailed around Britain on her own in 1996, she has been driven by ambition, so the small matter of a life-threatening ocean was unlikely to stand in her way.

From the time the boat was launched in January 2000, she claimed she wanted a close and intimate relationship with the 'friend' that was to see her through to the finish line, come March 2001.

She has worked hard at that friendship, sailing it from the yard in Auckland where it was built, back to Southampton.

Part of the way was sailed with a crew who were involved in its design and build, the rest on her own, clocking up vital miles to give her a detailed knowledge of the boats character, good and bad.

That voyage stood her in good stead. Straight after arriving back in the Solent, MacArthur took part and, to everyone's surprise and delight, won the Europe New Man Star from Plymouth, beating some of the world's most famous solo sea dogs.

Suddenly, MacArthur was no longer a pretender but a real life contender for the world's most coveted solo prize, the Vendee Globe.

Her efforts in gaining experience in all forms of sailing, be it 49ers with Paul Brotherton or world-beating monohulls with Yves Parlier, earned respect.

MacArthur's standing as a five-foot something lightweight from landlocked Derbyshire gave way to that of an internationally respected cult figure. She moved from boardroom to press room, showing a remarkable mastery of new skills, be they on the water with new rigging or electronics, or off it, with a command of foreign languages or an understanding of marketing and sponsors demands.

Currently in the middle of the dangerous Southern Ocean, MacArthur spent a sleepless night and day onboard Kingfisher as variable wind conditions made it hard to switch off on the approach to the Judge and Clark islands, about 600 miles East of South of the southern most tip of New Zealand.

MacArthur said: "I've had very little sleep in the past 24 hours through a combination of wind and concern to be awake around the islands.

"I was pretty tired before then, after a three-hour repair on the gennaker yesterday - I had it all laid out on the deck, it was pretty hard to keep it there! It brought my aches and pains back though.

"The wind has been frustratingly changeable - one minute I've got 14 knots and the next 25 from a different direction.

"The wind analysis chart in the Deckman software looks like the Alps!

"This makes it very stressful onboard, since if I have too little sail up we stop in the lulls and if there is too much we are out of control in the gusts.

"I've been trying to get some naps at the chart table seat, with the mainsheet in my hand so that I can release the pressure in a hurry if necessary.

"As I passed the islands, I saw a fishing boat, it was very weird, the first boat I had seen for a long time. I went to call them up, and they beat me to it!

"The 'Austral Leader' was the name, 32 guys onboard a huge fishing vessel for a three-month trip.

"It was brilliant, and lovely to talk to someone. I think they were a bit shy, and they didn't really believe I was on my own.

"After a few pauses they wanted to know my name.

"They gave me the position of a small rock not on the charts, which was good to know."