PHIL SHARP has finished a brilliant fourth out of the 72-strong fleet in the first leg of the single-handed Mini Transat yacht race.

In his Le Gallais 419 the Jersey sailor crossed the finish line in Lanzarote at 1.18 pm on Saturday after taking six days 21 hours to complete the 1,300 miles from La Rochelle.

But it could have been even better had Sharp not been haunted by problems with two of his three spinnakers.

He lost the medium-sized sail just one day into the race when it slipped over the side, became tangled under his boat and he was forced to cut it free.

And then on the third day his big one tore in half after becoming snagged as it was being hoisted and Sharp was forced to spend a sleepless night repairing it.

Despite that until late on Friday he was third.

He was then overtaken by professional sailor Yves Le Blevec.

The pair had been swapping positions for several days but this time Le Blevec managed to make it stick and came home a little over two hours in front of Sharp who was only five hours behind winner Corentin Douguet.

Sharp said this morning: ‘I suffered severely from tiredness in the last couple of days after I fixed the big sail – I slept for 18 hours after I got here and I’m still feeling a bit rough.

‘Because of the conditions I could get away without the medium spinnaker most of the time – although if I’d had it I’d have used it for most of the race.

‘But I’m really pleased.

Before we set off I thought it would be good to finish in the top ten.

To come in the top five is great – it’s a really good position to start the second leg.

After two weeks rest the fleet will set sail on the 3,000-mile second leg to Salvador in Brazil.