Sailing heroes Ellen MacArthur, Alex Thomson and Mike Golding officially opened the Collins Stewart London Boat Show yesterday, and took to the water in the Extreme 40 Challenge in the dock alongside ExCel.

Dame Ellen MacArthur, who in 2005 became the fastest singlehanded sailor to circumnavigate the globe, upheld her reputation by winning the challenge with a lap time of 2’14” – at least 25 seconds quicker than fellow singlehanded racers Mike Golding (2’40”) and Alex Thomson (2’45”). To celebrate Ellen’s win the three skippers went onboard HMS Albans and sprayed each other with champagne.