Warsash skipper Ian Walker won the ninth-month offshore Volvo Ocean Race and immediately announced that “I’m going home for the summer – my kids want their daddy back".

The 45-year-old Hampshire-based sailor has spent the last eight years of his life focusing on climbing and winning the round the world epic known as the ‘Everest of Sailing’.

While other sailors on the 40,000 nautical-mile challenge will turn their attentions to other sailing events, Walker is looking forward to putting his feet up. 

“I think my next appointment is rescue boat duty at junior fortnight sailing with my kids,” he told a post-finish press conference yesterday after his fifth place finish in Leg 9 to Gothenburg sealed the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

“I’m going home for the summer – my kids want their daddy back.”

Walker, a twice-Olympic silver medallist,  began his journey to victory when he was asked to skipper a joint Chinese/Irish venture, Green Dragon, in the 2008-09 race.

But the boat under-performed from the off and Walker and his crew were never a threat to Torsten Grael’s eventual champions, Ericsson 4.

Walker looked likely to fare better in 2011-12 onboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Volvo Open 70, Azzam, but she too, proved to be an under-performer and a broken mast on the very fast night of the race set the scene for a campaign littered with disappointments.

Walker refused to give up on his dream, however, and finally succeeded yesterday to become the first British skipper to win the race, formerly known as the Whitbred round the world race.

“It’s an amazing feeling," he said.

“My whole relationship with the Whitbread started as a kid with pictures of the boats on the wall.

“I did my first Volvo Ocean Race two editions ago and I really wasn’t sure if I’d be up to it. I wondered what the Southern Ocean would be like, lots of self-doubt, and it’s been a long, old road.

“We’ve made a lot of mistakes and we’ve learned a lot of lessons and this time round we threw all that experience in place, surrounded myself with good guys and it worked.”