LONDON – Ellen MacArthur has endured stormy seas, 65 mph winds, a broken sail, burns, bruises, and exhaustion – even a close encounter with a whale. The payoff: a solo around-the-world sailing record.

The 28-year-old Englishwoman completed the 26,000-mile circumnavigation at 5:29 p.m. EST yesterday by crossing an imaginary finish line between Ushant, France, and the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall on the south coast of England.

Her final time was 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds. Her 75-foot trimaran B&Q broke the record set by Francis Joyon, who set the mark of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds, in February 2004.

MacArthur’s control team, based in Falmouth, southern England – near where her voyage began over two months ago – burst into cheers and sprayed champagne as she crossed the line, beating Joyon’s mark by 1 day, 8 hours, and 35 minutes.

“It’s been an absolutely unbelievable journey both physically and mentally,” she said in comments posted on her website. “I’m absolutely overjoyed.”

Later, she told her team that she never thought she would break Joyon’s record on the first try.

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.

MacArthur was taken aboard a British naval ship, the HMS Severn, for medical checks while a crew continued to sail the B&Q. MacArthur planned to rejoin her boat before it docked in Falmouth today.

MacArthur’s journey began November 28. She slept an average of 30 minutes at a time and four hours in any day. She reheated freeze-dried meals on a single burner stove while living in an area measuring 5 feet by 6 1/2 feet. Her water was desalinated from the sea.

She spent Christmas Day in a storm, but after crossing the halfway mark at Cape Horn on New Year’s Eve she built a four-day lead on the pace set by Joyon. A week later, during the worst storms of MacArthur’s career, she badly burned her arm on a generator. MacArthur twice had to climb the 98-foot mast to repair mainsail damage.

Struggling in bad weather, she fell a day behind Joyon. By late January, she was back in contention after crossing the equator. Her 75-foot boat hit a large fish and nearly struck a whale. But a storm helped push her back in the lead.

The around-the-world record has been attempted only five times in a multihull, the fastest and most extreme class of boats on the ocean. Joyon, a Frenchman, set his record in a 90-feet trimaran, IDEC.

In February 2001, MacArthur became the fastest woman and youngest person to sail alone around the world. She finished second in the Vendee Globe race, taking just more than 94 days.