UK yachtswoman clinches record

Emma was looking forward to a beer and a stationary bed

British yachtswoman Emma Richards has become the first woman and youngest person to complete a 29,000-mile round-the-world race.

The 28-year-old sailed the 60-foot racer Pindar across the finish line at Newport, Rhode Island, just before 2100 BST on Sunday in fourth place in the Around Alone race.

Her mother and father, Margaret and Bryan, were on quayside with champagne to welcome her in.

The yachtswoman, from the Isle of Wight, said: "I cannot believe this is actually over. I have literally lived, eaten, breathed and slept this race.

"It only seems yesterday I set off and yet I have done 30,000 miles."

I am looking forward to having a few beers with my family and friends and sleeping in a bed that does not move

Emma Richards

She said it was "probably the biggest challenge I will ever face in my life".

And after a celebratory meal with friends, family and other skippers, she added: "I did get too lonely and I have sworn never to do any more single-handed around the world races since I've finished this one."

Ms Richards admitted there had been "lots of bad moments" about the challenge.

"One of the worst would have to have been when I had to climb the main mast to replace the halyard that was broken (the rope that holds the biggest sail up).

"That was a pretty hair-raising moment."

She also survived a battering by what she described as "the perfect storm" just 250 miles from the end of the race.

'Hideous storm'

Her vessel was hammered for 10 hours by a storm off the east coast of the US in same area where the book and film The Perfect Storm were based.

"We had a pretty horrible low pressure system come through and it was right above the Gulf Stream where it intensifies the weather and the waves," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It was a pretty hideous storm."

Emma encountered her own 'perfect storm'

At the time, she called her shore team to say how Pindar had been "crashing from wave to wave", flinging her around the cabin and leaving her battered and bruised.

She told her team: "The waves have been picking me up and spitting me out."

But she remained philosophical about the outcome.

"It kept everything right on tenterhooks until the last moment, which was pretty cool," she said.

Back on dry land, Ms Richards - who originally hails from Helensburgh in Scotland - said: "I am looking forward to having a few beers with my family and friends and sleeping in a bed that does not move.

"Then I would love to come back to sailing as long as I have people with me next time."

Her next project is a two person race from France to Brazil in November.