SOLO sailor Steve White has crossed the finish line in the Artemis Transat race across the Atlantic.

The Charlton Down sailor, on his 60ft boat Spirit of Weymouth, came in ninth. He was the last in the Open 60 class to complete the 3,000-mile course, though four of the original 13 starters abandoned the race.

He got to Boston in the early hours of yesterday morning, recording a time of 16 days, 15 hours, 4 minutes and 54 seconds in. Ahead of him was record-breaking sailor Dee Caffari in her boat Aviva.

Steve's wife Kim said the only thing he wanted was a pizza and a beer.

She said: "I think he's done a really good job - he's nursed the boat to Boston despite the fact it's the oldest thing in the race.

"Four boats retired for one reason or another, and that's a quarter of the fleet."

Father-of-four Steve, 36, has remortgaged his family home several times to invest in Spirit of Weymouth and achieve his dream of racing non-stop around the world in the forthcoming Vendée Globe race later this year.

He was operating on by far the lowest budget in the Transat's Open 60 fleet. His search for major sponsorship, to allow him to compete on more equal terms with the rest of the big hi-tech boats, continues.

Said Kim: "We will be focused now on the Vendée Globe, which starts on November 9 from Sables d'Olonne, France.

"Steve has qualified for the Vendée now, which is excellent, but it's going to cost in the region of £500,000 to get the boat ready for the start line.

"We need new sails and rigging and then some money which will give us a wage to allow us to physically get all the work done that needs doing.

"Steve's boat is ten years old, and so are the sails. One chap said to me: 'Just think what he could so with decent sails.' "It would make a massive difference."