Brit Sets Solo Sailing Record

British sailor Ellen MacArthur returned home to a hero's welcome Tuesday following her solo around-the-world sailing record.

A flotilla of all shapes and colors surrounded MacArthur's 75-foot trimaran B&Q as it drifted under gentle winds into the rocky port in Cornwall on the south coast of England.

Small planes darted overhead to join in the welcome, with thousands in the harbor waving and hundreds more witnessing history from a cliff overlooking the turquoise bay.

After 71 1/2 days at sea, the 28-year-old Englishwoman arrived to wild cheers just before noon. Her parents, Ken and Avril, came on board and the family shared a long embrace.

"It was an extraordinary experience, quite overwhelming," she told the crowd. "I'm so happy to be back here in Falmouth. We could not have a better reception to come home to."

A slight woman at only 5-foot-3, MacArthur completed the 26,000-mile circumnavigation at 10:29 p.m. Monday by crossing an imaginary finish line between Ushant, France, and the Lizard peninsula on the south coast of England.

For two months, reports CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, the only humans MacArthur saw were from chance meetings on the high seas like a British navy vessel in the south Atlantic, but millions of her fans could see her night and day thanks to 12 Web cams onboard. They watched her throw a charm overboard to Neptune as she crossed the equator, and brace herself for a storm.

Queen Elizabeth II approved a damehood for MacArthur, the female equivalent of a knighthood, just hours after she finished the voyage.

"I don't think until I see faces again that it's really going to sink in," MacArthur said earlier on er Web site. "It's been an absolutely unbelievable journey both physically and mentally. I'm absolutely overjoyed.

"I feel absolutely exhausted but I'm elated to be here," she added. "The whole voyage has been very draining, and there's a lot of things going round in my head. But it's great that I can finally switch my brain off and relax in the company of others which I've really missed."

MacArthur completed her journey in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, 33 seconds, beating the existing record of Francis Joyon of France by one day, 8:35:49, her control team said.

Joyon, whose February 2004 time had cut 20 days off the world mark, said he always regarded MacArthur as a serious contender.

"The mere fact that she was able to sail around the world nonstop was quite an exploit, but to smash the record at the same time fully deserves my warmest congratulations," Joyon said.

MacArthur's record will need to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Records Council, whose official watched B&Q cross the line from the Ushant lighthouse.

"This is a stunning achievement," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. "The whole country is very proud of Ellen."

"Your progress has been followed by many people in Britain and throughout the world, who have been impressed by your courage, skill and stamina," Queen Elizabeth II said.

MacArthur's journey began on Nov. 28. She slept an average of 30 minutes at a time and four hours in any one day.

Freeze-dried meals were reheated on a single burner stove in a living area measuring 5 feet high and 6-7 feet wide. Her water supply was desalinated from the sea.

MacArthur also had to fix her generators and watermaker and endured stormy seas, 65 mph, a broken sail, exhaustion and a close encounter with a whale.

She spent Christmas Day in a storm, but after crossing the halfway mark at Cape Horn on New Year's Eve, built up a four-day lead over Joyon's pace. A week later, during the worst storms of MacArthur's career, she badly burned her arm on the generator.

MacArthur twice had to climb the 98-foot mast to repair mainsail damage. During the climbs, she had to effectively sail backward to ensure safe conditions.

Struggling in bad weather, MacArthur fell a day behind Joyon's pace. But, by late January, she was back in contention after crossing the equator. The boat hit a large fish and had a near miss with a whale, then light winds threatened. A storm on Saturday helped push her back into the lead.

MacArthur grew up in landlocked Derbyshire in northern England. Her love of the sea began when she went sailing with her aunt in a dinghy at the age of 4.

She spent the following years reading about sailing and saving up money from her school lunches to buy her own dinghy at 13.