Briton Mike Golding completes Vendee Globe race

Golding finishes in sixth place in round the world race

Mike Golding has completed his third, and probably last, Vendée Globe singlehanded non-stop round the world race in his 60-foot Gamesa

Job done. After over 88 days at sea, Mike Golding completed his third Vendée Globe solo round the world race and his sixth circumnavigation of the planet, crossing the line in sixth place at Les Sables d’Olonne.

It has been a long, hard slog for the man from Warsash on the banks of the River Hamble in Hampshire and he has indicated strongly that this was his last solo round the world venture.

He had been beaten home by Frenchman Jean le Cam, with whom he has been in a tussle for weeks, hampered since entering the Southern Ocean south of South Africa by losing an important sail, and leaking water through the keel since half way back up the Atlantic.

The Volvo round the world race, which next starts from Alicante, Spain next year, has chosen Fort Adams, close to Newport, Rhode Island, as its United States stopover.

It has already announced that the first stop will be in Recife, Brazil and will call at Auckland, Itajai, Brazil and finish in Gothenberg. Before the last race it had been announced that Abu Dhabi wanted to host two stopovers, it may be that a stop at Sanya,China, may be replaced by Hong Kong and, after leaving Newport, Lorient had also announced before the last race that it had a deal for two races.