“That’s it then. At 1534 we crossed the finish line. Slightly later than previously suggested, this was not down to any lack of forward momentum, more the GPS getting over excited. We had a downwind run to the finish which meant that we had flown the spinnaker non-stop for over 33 hours! Not bad at all.

“For the past three hours we have been back in range for mobile phones and they have not stopped. We now know that we were not first in Class, but we do know that some major scalps have been taken. We also know that Mikey has won a twenty quid wager so I guess the first round is on him.

“This has nevertheless been a fantastic experience for all of us. It was a great race, completed in near perfect conditions. We feel as though we could not have done any better and this was largely down to the outstanding leadership of Dee, the skipper.

“This was her first Fastnet Race and in the mini-class of the two Challenge yachts we have defeated the other by some margin. She is undoubtedly another rising star in the sport and is a name to look out for in the future.

“Another race began the moment we crossed the finish and that is the race to get all of the equipment tidied away and stowed, then it is off to the 24-hour beer tent where we will no doubt be making full use of its special licence.

“One final bit of thanks should go to the RORC whose organisation helped make this Fastnet Race so successful. They and their new race sponsor, Rolex, should be incredibly pleased with their first year in partnership and I hope that this continues for years to come.

“The crew have been wondering by the way when they get their commemorative watches!”