Ross Hobson, a dentist from Ponteland in Northumberland, knocked almost 14 hours off the previous Bermuda to Plymouth sailing record on Monday.
He had hoped to sail back to Amble marina but after two days making little progress he decided to catch the train.
Mr Hobson sailed with Simon Redding, from Plymouth, and Guy Gibbins from Southampton.
Dodged hurricanes
He said: "There's not enough wind to sail up to Amble. I've been motoring for the past two days just to get this far, so I'm going to have to leave the boat now and get the train back."
Mr Hobson set off in mid-August aboard the 50ft trimaran Mollymawk for the 2,870 mile crossing, passing through the Bermuda Triangle.
He said: "We dodged hurricanes Alex, Bonnie and Charlie on the way up. We caught the tail of Hurricane Alex and it was very windy - over 50 knots of wind - and big seas sliding down on us. It was very scary at times.
"When we initially started we damaged our bow and had to return to Plymouth for repairs, which meant starting again in much poorer weather than we wanted.
"We were going very slowly initially, and then after about four days, we hooked onto a powerful weather system and were able to ride that all the way across the Atlantic, clocking up over 270 miles each day to get back on track and beat the record."
Click here to read original BBC article (02/09/2004)
Award for record-breaking sailor
A record-breaking sailor celebrated another success after scooping an award for his achievements.
In August last year, Ross Hobson, from Kirkley, Northumberland, knocked almost 14 hours off the record for sailing from Bermuda to Plymouth.
He completed the 2,870-mile crossing in 14 days and seven hours in his 45ft trimaran Mollymawk.
This week he was presented with Castle Morpeth Sports Person of the Year Award by football star Peter Beardsley.
Mr Hobson said: "I am extremely pleased and grateful for this award. It rewards the team for all their hard work and support, both aboard Mollymawk and behind the scenes over the past few years."
The crossing raised £3,500 for patient care and cancer research through the charity Sail 4 Cancer.
Mr Hobson is due to take part in the Faraday Mill Single Handed Trans-Atlantic Race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island, USA, in May.
Click here to read original BBC article (21/01/2005)
Winning is all for Atlantic racer
A yachtsman from Northumberland says he is refusing to let a recent run of bad luck scupper his chances of winning a single-handed transatlantic race.
Ross Hobson, from Kirkley, is tipped to win the Farraday Mill OSTAR challenge in his trimaran, Mollymawk.
However, he is now battling to get back on course for the race on 29 May, after Mollymawk's rudder was smashed while sailing down to Plymouth.
A few days later his support team's van was written off in an accident.
Both accidents have had severe financial implications for the record-breaking yachtsman, who says his credit cards are now "maxed up to the limit."
The worst is the damage to the 54ft craft, which had just been refitted and was en route to the start line at Plymouth when it struck a large semi-submerged object, possibly a shipping container.
On top of the van crash on a Northumberland road, repairs to the rudder and hull are estimated at £3,500.
This is unfortunate because the van is needed for more than transport - his on-shore team use it as a base, even sleeping in it rather than in hotels to keep costs down.
There's nobody else to rely on - just you, the boat and the weather.
Ross Hobson
More than 30 entries from all around the world are lined up to take part in the prestigious Faraday Mill Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) 2005, and Mr Hobson is one of the favourites to win.
He says he hopes to cover the almost 3,000 mile course in 15 days, and would regard anything more as a failure.
The 46-year-old has been sailing all his life, and his two teenage sons have also taken up the sport, however, he admits that it is not always easy for those left behind.
"They all find it very stressful because they don't know what is happening to me when I am out there," he says.
"I'm very lucky that they let me do it."
This will not be the first time he has crossed the Atlantic.
In August last year he knocked almost 14 hours off the record for sailing from Bermuda to Plymouth, and is aware of the challenges of sailing single-handed across the Atlantic, such as lack of sleep.
Ross Hobson says he is determined to be first over the line
He said: "I'll have cat naps of 20 to 30 minutes each, to give a total of about three hours sleep each day.
"Usually three or four days out are probably the worst because you haven't got into the sleep pattern of short naps and you get very depressed.
"Sleep is also scary because when you go to sleep you assume that everything you might hit goes to sleep, and of course that's not the case."
During his last transatlantic voyage Mollymawk almost struck a fridge, floating hundreds of miles from the nearest land.
So why does he do it?
"It's a challenge. How else can you push yourself to the limit? There's nobody else to rely on, just you, the boat and the weather. And yes, I like to win.
'Not glamorous'
"I'm also completely insane!"
It is also an expensive challenge for the self-funded.
Mr Hobson, who works at Newcastle University's dental school, said: "We've got some sponsorship in terms of someone providing equipment but we need some cash. Even a fiver would do, then at least I could treat the team to a round of fish and chips."
It puts paid to the myth of sailing being a glamorous sport, but he is driven by the will to succeed.
"I'm there to win, anything other than first over the line is not on my agenda."