FOLLOWING a busy round of acceptance speeches for the plethora of awards she has collected, Ellen MacArthur was due in London today to open the 2002 London Boat Show at Earls Court.

Now feted as one of the most important sporting celebrities in the UK after beating footballer Michael Owen in the BBC Sporting Personality of the Year last month, MacArthur is expected to give the British marine industry a major boost with her appearance on the opening day of the show, which features her Open 60 Kingfisher as its key exhibit.

After declaring the show open, she will return to her beloved boat, on which she became the first woman to sail non-stop round the world by finishing second in the Vendee Globe and pose for yet more photos in a bid to promote watersports in the UK.

She will then announce her plans for the next five years - a schedule that is likely to involve both monohull and multihull racing, and which may incorporate another campaign for the next Vendee, which she is desperate to win.

Questions over the identity of her new sponsor are also set to be answered though many believe that Kingfisher, the multi-national retailing giant who have funded her amazing career over the past three years, will extend their agreement.

Few sailing sponsorships have paid so many dividends for a company as MacArthur has for Kingfisher - both in the UK and in France where she is a legend. And while their chairman, Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy, a keen yachtsman and perennial competitor at Skandia Life Cowes Week who backed the original deal, has seen his influence in the company diminish, MacArthur's business, the Cowes-based Offshore Challenges, is expected to continue to receive Kingfisher's support.

Ellen MacArthur has ruled out doing another Vendee Globe race in 2004 as she intends to take a shot at being the fastest ever around the world.

MacArthur, who finished second behind David Beckham in the BBC's recent Sports Personality of the Year poll, will shun the solo event in favour of readying herself for the Jules Verne Trophy in 2003.

She said: "It is true that sailing the Globe is very special, but I won't do the next Vendee in 2004.

"My objectives remain focused elsewhere and it is a tough race to do twice in a row. I want to take a team of people on a catamaran to be the fastest round the world in 2003.

"'It will take a team of 10 to 12 people to sail it and it really is racing on the edge in the southern ocean."

The Cowes-based sailor made the announcement at the London Boat Show yesterday, revealing details of a lucrative five-year sponsorship deal with Kingfisher - her sponsors since 1998.

Her five-year plan will feature both monohull and multihull sailing and include a new-build programme in 2005 of an Open 60 trimaran which she will race in the 2006 Route du Rhum.

She said: "I intend to use the next few years to expand my knowledge and expereince technically, personally and as part of the team.

"As my objectives remain focussed on the multihull circuit I do not plan to compete in the 2004 Vondee Globe - it's a tough race to do twice in a row.

"However that does not mean that I have ruled it out for the future."

MacArthur's business, the Cowes-based Offshore Challenges, will continue to receive Kingfisher's support.

Between now and April MacArthur will stay with her parents in Derbyshire completing her book Taking on the World for publication in the autumn.