American Marconi Wireless News - Last Vendee skipper arrives, after the deadline but 'on a cloud'

However Van Weynbergh was jubilant, pumping his fist and drinking champagne from the bottle once he had docked.

"It's indescribable. I'm on a cloud," he said as he climbed onto dry land. "It's better than taking drugs. I'm floating."

After almost 118 days at sea, the Belgian crossed the line at Les Sables d'Olonne, at 9:30 am (0830 GMT) on Saturday, just over 24 hours after the 0730 GMT Friday cut off.

His Imoca yacht 60 Dieteren Group was the 33rd boat to cross the line in the 10th edition of the solo circumnavigation. Seven starters did not finish.

Van Weynbergh, the first Belgian to finish the race, was greeted by a small, noisy crowd along both banks of the channel into the port, but was classified as 'Did Not Finish'.

"I didn't expect anyone to be here and there are all these people here to greet me and set off flares," Van Weynbergh said, shedding "tears of joy".

The time limit of 117 days and 20 hours corresponded, organisers said, to the time taken by the last competitor in the previous edition, Finn Ari Huusela.

The race winner Charlie Dalin finished on January 14. The trip took him 64 days, 19 hours and 22 minutes.

The 57-year-old Van Weynbergh, whose team was the only one in the race made up exclusively of amateurs, had been racing against the clock for several days.

Caught in a calm, he crawled to the finish in a slow-motion battle to beat the deadline.

"It was hard from the start in November to the finish," he said. "Even the final manoeuvre was touch-and-go when I almost put her on the beach. But I made it into the channel."

O.M.Souza--AMWN