Franglais fans: French supporters cheer Ellen into port

"At first she found it easier to get sponsors in France than her own country," Boyd added, "but her main sponsors now are Kingfisher, so ultimately it's been a British company who have helped her out.

"I wouldn't say yachting is taken more seriously in France than in Britain, but the sponsor side of it has developed much more.

"They have much more of a culture of stars than we do. They originally had Eric Tabli, who is basically the reason yachting is so big in France.

"He spawned a whole generation of off-shore yachtsmen, of which Ellen is the latest example on the international scene."

"He was very big in the press in France and it enabled yahctsmen to get sponsorship, to build amazing new boats and to go off on their incredible journeys."

Blue blazar brigade

MacArthur's endeavours in the past three months mean she is now destined to become as big in Britain as she is in France.

Michel Desjoyeaux: Won the race, but not the fans

And Boyd believes her success is likely to have a major impact on a sport that has previously been branded elitist.

"She's seen a little bit of fame before," he said, "but nothing like the degree we saw last night.

"It's going to be interesting to see what happens when she comes back to Britain.

"She's been front page news for more than a week now and I think it's going to be quite hard for her, and also her family, to adjust to that.

"Her life will possibly never be the same again. She's a well-known person now and it's going to be interesting to see how that affects yachting in Britain.

"She's an ordinary girl from Derbyshire, she isn't part of the gin-and-tonic, blue-blazared brigade.

"The message she's been trying to put across is if you want to do something, you can as long as you make your mind up and go and do it."