Ellen shines on TV

The BBC programme revealed her tenacity, a quality of Ellen's that Paul Brotherton knows only too well

It is a mark of Ellen MacArthur's celebrity that the BBC pulled out all the stops to show a programme last night that was originally scheduled for screening in October. The editors worked overtime to get the show out just two weeks after she arrived back from her epic voyage.

Anyone who saw Ellen MacArthur: Sailing Through Heaven and Hell will agree that it was a very moving account of her experiences in the Vendee, but a source close to Ellen told madforsailing that she was not happy with the way it was edited, with the focus too much on the emotion and less on the overall experience.

Even so, it was wonderful to see a heroic sailing adventure given the airing it deserved, and the picture quality was a credit to the technology and the people involved. It was also a credit to Ellen that she found the time and energy to record the most harrowing and dangerous moments of her journey. There are no airs and graces about her, what you see is what you get with Ellen.

madforsailing contributor and top dinghy coach Paul Brotherton received a call from Ellen two years ago, asking for some tutoring in small boat skills. "There aren't many sailors of her calibre who would openly hold their hands up and say: 'I'm not very good at this.' But Ellen was prepared to do that, she wanted to learn some new skills," says Brotherton.

This approach has permeated Ellen's approach to her sailing - find the acknowledged best in their field and soak up their skills as rapidly as possible. It was her ability to learn from her mistakes and never repeat them that impressed Brotherton the most. "It would be fair to say that when she came to me she knew how to steer a boat but knew little about how to control it with body weight and sail trim. After 10 half-days of training, I would say she was steering the boat as well as anyone."

Brotherton chose the Laser 4000 for training Ellen, and the coaching culminated in competing at an Audi Eurocup on Lake Como in northern Italy. It was her first competitive event in a dinghy, and Ellen finished 8th out of 80. "By the end of the regatta she was passing some seriously good sailors downwind," comments Brotherton.

Brotherton was being paid to coach Ellen to the best of his abilities, but he admits to finding the racing frustrating at times. "We came off one start line, and we were doing OK, but Ellen had the mainsheet in just a tad too tight. The boat was ploughing a bit of a trench and it wanted to turn up into the wind. It just needed a little easing to get the boat back on its feet and really motoring, so I took the mainsheet off her and worked it from the trapeze. I could tell she wasn't too happy but I did it anyway - I guess the competitive instinct took over."

They did well in that race, and then it was time to line up for the next one. Brotherton took the mainsheet off Ellen again, but this time found himself in a tug of war. "I'll have that," she said, quite firmly, and the teacher realised he wasn't going to get the better of his pupil. "She was pretty determined she was going to do things her way," laughs Brotherton.