Golding the hero takes third

Mike Golding has made history by finishing the Vendee Globe without a keel.

At 03 hours 17 minutes and 13 seconds GMT this morning Golding nursed his Open 60 Ecover across the finish line off Les Sables d'Olonne and has now [0530 GMT] just disembarked from his boat.

As Golding stepped ashore this is what he had to say:"Everything about this race is exactly what I came back to it for, until the keel fell off yesterday afternoon; which is a weird thing to say and now I just feel lucky to finish. Lucky to be third. Lucky to still have my boat. The boat has taken care of me and now I am just happy to be here."

Interestingly even without a keel for the last 50 miles of the race Golding has still beaten the Vendee Globe speed record set by Michel Desjoyeaux in 2001 which stood at 93 days and 3 hours.

Golding sailed the 23,680-mile race in 88 days 15 hours and 15 minutes and 13 seconds at an average theoretical speed across the course of 11.13 knots.

More news later.