Jester has returned to the UK, after being forced to retire from the Jester Challenge – the Atlantic crossing which bears the boat’s name.

Skipper Trevor Leek (pictured above at the start of the challenge) made the decision to turn back, after bad weather left him unable to reach the finishing port, Newport, Rhode Island, in his available time.

Split containers meant his water supplies would not have lasted the entire trip.

Leek’s boat is a replica of the original Jester, which Blondie Hasler sailed in the inaugural 1960 OSTAR, but that boat sank in the 1988 OSTAR, when sailed by Mike Richey.

Richey died in Decmber last year aged 92 and before he sailed Leek asked his family if they would like some of his ashes scattered over the spot where Jester was lost.

They thought this was a lovely idea and the ashes were placed on board Jester the day before she began the challenge in Plymouth.

The ashes were eventually scattered as close to the position as Leek could get to before he reluctantly turned for home.

Challenge organiser Ewen Southby-Tailyour said: ‘Thus the most important duty Jester and Trevor have ever had to perform in relation to the Jester Challenge has been successfully carried out.’

Meanwhile after 46 days at sea and a stop in the Azores, Denis Gorman (below) became the seventh finisher of the challenge when his Albin Vega 27, Lizzie-G, arrived in America on Friday morning.