Hundreds of vistors to the Southampton Boat Show flocked to the Yachting World stand this afternoon to meet Ellen MacArthur during the official signing ceremony of her autobiography ‘Taking on the World’.

Ellen gave a brief interview with CNN TV before embarking on the mammouth signing session that continued well in to late afternoon. Queues of people waited patiently in the glistening sunshine armed with their newly-purchased books to have the opportunity to meet Ellen and chat to her about her outstanding global challenge, and to find out about the preparations for her next epic voyage – the Rhoute de Rhumb – which starts in November.

Ellen commented:”I have wanted to write a book since I was small, but the reality of actually sitting in a room and hammering it out was a far bigger challenge than I’d expected. I found reliving each day of my life eye opening, seeing how many people had helped so much in so many diverse ways. This is far from a book about sailing, but a book about people.”

With over 300 copies of the book having already been sold this morning, and with a special show offer – free with a subscription to Yachting World – it wasn’t long before all the books on the stand were snapped up!

Those who missed out this time, but would like to get hold of a copy of the book and have it signed by Ellen, there are still plenty of opportunities during Ellen’s book signing tour which runs throughout the last two weeks in September. Some of the book signing events to watch out for include the Falmouth Booksellers on Monday 23 September at 1230, Bookend’s in Christchurch on Tuesday 24 September at 1200, and WHSmith at Holborn Circus at 1230 on Wednesday 25 September.

For more information, log on to www.teamkingfisher.com.