HAMPSHIRE ocean racer Mike Golding sailed his way to a podium finish in a gruelling 5,000-mile transatlantic yacht race yesterday.

As dawn broke over the Costa Rican port of Puerto Limon, the veteran round the world sailor along with co-skipper Javier “Bubi” Sansó slipped across the finish line after 17 days and 29 minutes at sea.

They were the third pairing to finish the classic Transat Jacques Vabre race, which set off from Le Havre on November 8 and is inspired by historic coffee routes between France and South America.

The duo had spent a tense few days in the run-up to the finish after losing the majority of power onboard their 60ft yacht Mike Golding Yacht Racing.

It is a huge boost for Golding, from Warsash, who was forced to retire from the Vendée Globe round the world race in December last year when his yacht dismasted just hours after taking the lead.

He said: “We are a little disappointed because coming out of the bad weather we were in place to do better than third but we had problems with instrumentation and started losing ground.

“Overall we’re pleased to be here and pleased to be third.”

Mike Golding Yacht Racing sailed a distance of 5,317 miles and finished one day, six hours and seven minutes behind the class winner Safran.

Titchfield’s Dee Caffari and her co-skipper Brian Thompson, from the Isle of Wight, were last night in eight position, with Hamble’s Sam Davies bringing up the rear of the fleet in ninth.

Gosport’s Alex Thomson was forced to retire from the race after sustaining damage in a collision with a submerged object, thought to be a whale or a container.

The boat was repaired in Horta in the Azores and is now on its way back to the UK.