Man returns home after round-the-world sailing quest

A man has returned home after sailing around the world to mark his 60th birthday.

Bob Brown, from Leicester, said he felt "euphoric" but also "sad" when he reached the finish line of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in Portsmouth on Saturday after 11 months at sea.

Brown, now 61, met his almost one-year-old granddaughter for the first time and said there was a lot of "emotional tears" shared with his family and crew after his boat traveled 45,039 miles.

He said he lived by the motto "eat, sleep, sail, repeat" and would look back fondly on seeing his first Humpback whale, catching up with his partner in Seattle and his two sons visiting him in South Korea.

Brown, a plumber, said the first leg of the race from the English Channel to Puerto Sherry, Spain, was particularly challenging and had left him "questioning my life choices" at times.

"When we first left, we were hit by four storms one after the other as we left the English Channel," he told the BBC.

"It was quite tough sleeping - sea sickness was a big thing on board.

"We were just not used to it because we are all amateurs. It was probably the roughest weather we had in the whole race at the beginning.

"A lot of people on board were the same, wondering whether we can really achieve this.

"People actually got off the boat, they couldn't handle it.

"And then better weather came along, and you get your sea legs, and you get used to it."

The route for the full circumnavigation was divided into eight legs, with the first starting from Portsmouth and taking crews to Spain, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, the boats sailed towards Uruguay, South Africa, West Australia, East Australia, China, the west coast of the USA, and the east coast of the USA, in that order, before heading back to the UK.

Brown said previously he had loved "the sailing, the big oceans and experiencing waves the size of houses".

The race featured 10 racing yachts measuring 70ft (21m) and more than 700 crew members.

The fleet raised money for Unicef, with Brown's boat raising more than £62,000 for charity.

"You leave a lot of really good friends behind that you have lived with for a year," he said.

"The biggest thing I will miss will be the people, very special people.

"It is like the military - you are doing the same thing for 11 months and it stops so it leaves a void in your life.

"60 metre waves, 70 knotts of wind, coming into Portsmouth the boat that came third was 60 metres in front of us.

"I think it will probably take a few months to decompress and get my head around what I have achieved - it's quite a big thing."

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