Skipper Alex Thomson guided Hugo Boss home to Hobart at 15:14:50 GMT at the end of the annual 628-mile sprint from Sydney in the Sydney Hobart Race. The final time was 2 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes and 50 seconds – average boat speed 10.3 knots.

Thomson said: “It’s fantastic to be here and it turned out to be an extraordinary contest at the end. This race has certainly lived up to its predictably unpredictable nature – we’ve had calms, squalls, wind shifts and unexpected changes galore. It’s a great race, certainly one of the classics and I’m pleased we came down to do it with Hugo Boss. The guys onboard have been fantastic, we’ve had a great laugh and we’re pleased with the result, if a little frustrated. We know we could’ve done better but the crew have been fantastic and it’s been a pleasure to work with Nick [Moloney]. It’s been a great experience for me to learn from such a talented pool of expertise and one which I value.”

Alex and the boat will stay in Hobart until 1 January when they will head to Melbourne to compete in Skandia Geelong Week.

Hugo Boss is set to leave Australia at the beginning of February to put both Alex and the boat through the rigours of the Southern Ocean in preparation for his next solo event, the Velux 5-Oceans Race starting in October 2006.