Poole sailor overcomes 'serious rip' to finish 13-day solo transatlantic race

• WATCH: ITV News Meridian's Richard Slee met Pip as she prepared for the big race

A sailor from Poole battled past a last-minute problem with her new boat to finish a gruelling 13-day transatlantic race after covering over 3500 nautical miles.

Pip Hare overcame a "serious rip" in her mainsail just hours before the end, finishing an impressive 12th overall in the IMOCA class at the iconic Route du Rhum event.

Despite the technical malfunction, Pip was also the first Brit to cross the line, after recovering from 28th place.

Her finishing time was 13 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes and 12 seconds.

As she finished, Pip said: “I’m happy to be here and smiling, because it’s a hard race. The Route du Rhum has got an incredible reputation for the size of the race because there are so many competitors.

"But actually, what we’ve just seen is that it’s fierce, it’s brutal and there were so many boats that were damaged. 

“When I started this season, I said the Route du Rhum was the cumulation of all of our learnings - as a whole team.

"We’re a new team and we’ve learned so much ... I really wanted to nail it in the final race of the season - and I think we did."