Four years after becoming the fastest person to sail around the world alone, Dame Ellen MacArthur is giving up ocean racing – to save the planet. She is so anxious about the threat to the environment she will abandon any new marine expeditions.Her conversion came during a journey to South Georgia in the south Atlantic where she spent two months investigating the plight of the albatross, the giant sea-faring bird which is under threat from hooks used in long-line fishing.
Dame Ellen said: "After being on South Georgia, the more I researched, the more frightened I got. And that has scared me to the point where I can't go back to sea and go round the world again because this really matters."
"When you sail on a boat you take with you the minimum of resources. You don't waste anything. You don't leave the light on; you don't leave a computer screen on. And I realised that on land we take what we want."
As reported by the Independent...
