Italian sailmaker Franco Manzoli has won the OSTAR 2005 in Cotonella, his 40ft trimaran. He crossed 3,000 miles of Atlantic from Plymouth to Newport in 17 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes.

Franco said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted, For the last day I had
no idea I was in the lead. I stuck to my course and the wind has been good to me. In the last 24 hours I’ve had a 200 mile run with the wind on my stern, quite unlike the early part of the race.’

Franco said the first two weeks had been very tough,
headwinds and big seas had made being on the multi-hull akin to working,eating and sleeping on a cross country motorbike.