After 18 days, 10 hours, 21 minutes and 18 seconds, 25-year-old Sharp finally crossed the line at 11.23 pm for an emotional reunion with his father John and grandmother Helen Bailhache.
Mr Sharp said: ‘There were more than 100 people at the finish to welcome me in, and I’m just totally over the moon to win the race.
I was presented with a magnum of champagne and I celebrated in true Formula 1 style – although there were no Matthew Pinsent-style tears.
‘It was only about five minutes before crossing the line that I really started thinking about everything I had done.
It started to sink in that I’m now going to be able to completely fulfil my sailing ambitions.’ Mr Sharp is now the first Briton since Dame Ellen MacArthur to win this prestigious solo yacht race across the Atlantic.
