Oar-some! The Sisterhood rows its way across the channel

To their critics, the Sisterhood seemed like some well-heeled girls who were more concerned about Kate Middleton quitting their seaside jaunt than achieving anything.

But the all-girl team have smashed the previous record for crossing the English Channel in a dragon boat and raised £100,000 for children's charities.

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They completed the perilous 21-mile journey across the world's busiest shipping lane in less than four hours - even though their "Chinese dragon boat' was little more than an oversized canoe whose sides barely cleared the water.

The girls also had to contend with the notoriously unpredictable Channel tides and the 700 ships and ferries that cross it each day.

Earlier setbacks had included the loss of their helmswoman, Prince William's on-off girlfriend Kate Middleton, who, say Royal insiders, withdrew because Clarence House was concerned about excessive publicity.

And last week, Alicia Fox-Pitt, the girl who introduced Kate to the crew, fell off her horse and broke her collarbone.

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The adventure was dreamt up by Emma Sayle, a 29-year-old involved in a company organising upmarket sex parties.

She and Catherine Loveless, a 33-year-old charity worker, decided to take on the Brotherhood, a group of men who were aiming to break the existing record of seven hours and 45 minutes for crossing the Channel in a dragon boat.

The Sisterhood have been training for nine months, but as they began their voyage from a beach near Dover's White Cliffs yesterday, their image was dented by Emma admitting that controlling the crew was 'like herding a bunch of cats'.

Finally, enough flapjacks, packets of biltong and cheese snacks were thrown aboard and the girls carried the boat to the water as one of the crew cried: "Have we got the passports?"

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There was another hitch when a passer-by pointed out they had the boat the wrong way round.

Simply reaching France would have given the Sisterhood an entry in the record books - no other female dragon-boat team has achieved it before. In the event, they crossed the Channel in three hours, 45 minutes and 26 seconds, smashing the original record set by a male crew by a full four hours.

But the competition between the male and female teams was intense and the Sisterhood were determined to beat the Brotherhood in a very public display of girl power.

Bookmakers were offering odds of 10/1 on the girls getting lost - and 500/1 on sharks eating them.

On their website, the girls admitted: "For once we cannot rely on our looks, cleavages, fabulous hair or glorious wit to get to this particular finish line."

The Brotherhood's boat left at the same time and raced ahead. But after six miles, the Sisterhood had great news: the men had steered off course.

Then, with only four miles to go, the race began taking its toll. Even the sight of land did little to raise the girls' spirits as the waves became stronger, threatening to pour over the sides of their boat.

Suddenly they could see the French beach and, singing the theme tune from the Indiana Jones films, the Sisterhood raced on. The Brotherhood were waiting for them, but even that did not spoil the triumph.

The men set a new world record time of three hours, 30 minutes and 52 seconds, but the Sisterhood still had their own record.

"It is an amazing feeling,' said Emma. "My thumbs are covered in blisters and my legs are like jelly, but I've made £400 from the bookies..."