Breton sailor smashes Transatlantic record

Breton sailor Thomas Colville has become the first person to sail solo across the Atlantic in less than five days.

Four days, 11 hours and 10 minutes after he left New York, Colville's Sodebo Ultim trimaran arrived at Lizard Point, in Cornwall, his team announced on Saturday, beating the previous record for a wind-powered transatlantic crossing - set by countryman Francis Joyon just three days ago - by 15 hours and 45 minutes.

It is the 49-year-old's 17th solo sailing record, and comes seven months after he smashed another of Joyon's marks - for a solo round-the-world journey. In December, he became the first sailor to navigate the globe in less than 50 days, taking more than a week off his compatriot's 2008 standard.

Colville set out on his attempt to break Atlantic record after taking part in The Bridge Transat, a race from Saint-Nazaire to New York to mark the centenary of US soldiers arriving in France to join Allied forces in World War I. Both he and Joyon were involved in that challenge, which was 'won' by the Queen Mary 2.

The Rennes-born sailor is expected to arrive in Brest on Monday.