Congratulations to the crew of Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire V, skippered by Loick Peyron (left), who have just achieved a new record for a non-stop round the world voyage of 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds, wiping two days and 18 hours off the previous record.

I was going to write that they had "comfortably" achieved the record but comfort is not a word one should associate with round the world sailing, particularly when the yacht has been engaged in what equates to a 29,000 mile sprint at an average speed of 26.51 knots.

I'd been following their progress on British helmsman and trimmer Brian Thompson's blog. Usually in long-distance sailing you have time as a follower to ease in to the stories from the voyage, but this was undertaken at such break-neck speed it seems to have been only yesterday since they were embarking.

So Brian (pictured right) has another world record to add to his growing collection which is now well in to the 20s. Thousands turned out in France to recognise the feat. In the UK media it earned barely a mention.