Triumphant but exhausted sailor Janet Sainsbury is back on dry land after completing the Fastnet race in one of the smallest boats to take part.

Her boat, the 33ft Knights Challenge, eventually moored up at about 10pm on Saturday after completing the 605-mile race.

Mrs Sainsbury, a 65-year-old grandmother from Woodcote Road, Epsom, and her sailing partner Carole Sunter, 56, were among the last finishers, but they were competing against huge sleek yachts crewed by professionals and equipped with the latest gadgets.

Janet’s boat did not even have an automatic pilot as it had broken and the duo had to cope without one all the way from the Isle of Wight, down the English coast, round the Fastnet rock off the Irish coast, and back to Plymouth.

It was a gruelling four-hour-on, four-hour-off shift pattern from the Sunday afternoon when the boat left Cowes to Saturday night when they finished.

As the pair recovered from the marathon race she said: “I would do it again – but with better equipment, better all-weather gear and a better radio.”

Their chances of completing the race were nearly dealt a fatal blow close to the start line.

She said: “I was trying to get something from the food locker but the boat lurched and I leant on the locker and accidentally shut it and couldn’t get it open.

“It was near the start of the race and I thought ‘what are we going to do without food?’”

But she was able to prise it open and they were able to continue on their way.

The couple were cheered on their way by other crews.

“That was one of the nicest things - the things that some of the young crews were saying to us, and the welcome we got when we got back to the marina in Plymouth.”

The lock keeper at the marina gave them a warm and enthusiastic welcome even though the official welcoming committee had gone home and the prize giving had already been held.

Some of the large, professionally crewed yachts made it back to Plymouth by Wednesday morning leaving the rest of the 300 vessels in their wake.

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