A sailor from Huntingdon has become only the eighth woman to complete an epic solo round the world race. Pip Hare pulled into Les Sables d'Olonne in the early hours of Friday morning to finish the Vendee Globe, 95 days after she set off, and described the feeling as "incredible".
Her "sporting objective" at departure on November 8 had been to better fellow British skipper Ellen MacArthur's benchmark of 94 days and four hours and although she fell just short of that, she was still pleased.
She said: "I felt it was attainable. At times during the race I was far ahead of [the target] and level-pegging most of the time. I started with nothing in January , really nothing.
I started with a personal loan from the bank and I built this campaign up out of nothing. I did the absolute best with what I had in the time that I had.
She has captured the imagination of the public with her communications during the race, providing regular updates and she even received a personal video message from Hollywood star Russell Crowe to wish her happy 47th birthday earlier this month.
