Britain's Ellen MacArthur, second in the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world race, arrived back on the south coast of England yesterday.
MacArthur (24), who shot to the top of the world championship skipper standings this week, was accompanied by a flotilla of around 25 vessels as she sailed past the Needles lighthouse to the west of the Isle of Wight on her way to Southampton.
Talking about her time at sea she said: "I don't think there was one particular thing that was quite hard, everything was a learning experience.
"The hardest thing was about learning to manage yourself out there for three months. I did get very down at times and got completely exhausted, and the hardest thing is to hold yourself up because at the end of the day it's only you who can do it."
MacArthur joked that one of her most difficult tasks was leaving Kingfisher to jump on dry land. "The hardest thing for me since crossing the line is getting off the boat. The second hardest was getting off the boat today."