YACHTSMAN Adrian Flanagan sailed into the record books today after becoming the first to circumnavigate the world solo through the Arctic.

Mr Flanagan, 47, set out on 28 October, 2005, in the quest to become the first to sail a 30,000-mile vertical circumnavigation westwards via Cape Horn and the Russian Arctic.

The father-of-two, from Ludgershall, arrived at Hamble in Hampshire at about 11am after 405 days at sea in his 38ft stainless steel sloop Barrabas.

His ex-wife Louise, who has managed the challenge, and the couple's two children Benjamin, nine, and Gabriel, six, plus family, friends and supporters were at The Royal Southern Yacht Club to celebrate.

Moments after finishing, the sailor said he felt a "tremendous relief".

He said: "I am pleased to be here, it is great.

"Doing what I did was something I had to do and I had pursued it since childhood."

He said that the dangers of the voyage had been acute because of his family and said there was "not a prayer" he would do it again.

It had been an incident-packed voyage for the former business development manager and qualified osteopath.

During the venture he sailed the first recorded solo non-stop UK to Hawaii trip and survived being swept overboard off Cornwall just five days into the challenge.

In the Atlantic he was tracked by pirates off Brazil and faced severe storms around notorious Cape Horn.

The key to the voyage was permission to sail through the Russian Arctic and with the help of billionaire Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich he was given the green light.

To return the favour the family will support Chelsea in tonight's Champions League final.

Mr Flanagan has completed the voyage without a major sponsor and his boat is now up for sale.

The yachtsman said: "I feel huge pride in my yacht Barrabas.

"She has seen me through fair weather and foul. As the first British flagged yacht to enter Russia's Arctic territorial waters, her place in sailing history is assured."

The sailor said he owed a debt of thanks to Sir Francis Chichester whose own solo circumnavigation in the 1960s was an inspiration.

He said: "It was he who inspired me to make this voyage after I read Gipsy Moth Circles the World as a 15-year-old schoolboy.

"The voyage has been long and it has been hard, at times filled with moments of joy and at others of terror.

"Facing down the challenge of rounding the notorious Cape Horn against wind and currents from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean presented the greatest physical peril.

"Together, Barrabas and I now belong to a small elite who have accomplished this feat, fewer in number than astronauts who have walked on the moon.

"To live and not to dream is pointless, but to dream and not to live it is worse.

"I hope the legacy of the Alpha Global Expedition will be an inspiration to my two sons Benjamin and Gabriel and to anyone else to chase their own dreams, just as Chichester inspired me."

On two occasions Mr Flanagan had to stop the sail. Once when he was waiting for permission from the Russian Government to sail through the Arctic and once when conditions were too treacherous off the Norwegian coast and he wintered there.

He also hitched a ride with a ship in the Russian Arctic because of the sea still being icebound.

During the two-and-a-half years it has taken to complete the challenge he has been home to the UK.

The sailor has also written a book of his challenge called Over The Top and this is being published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson later this year.

He said he would now take time to finish the manuscript before embarking on other challenges.