Brian Thompson thunders towards record books at 43 knots in Banque Populaire V The pressure would be on right until the end, he added, with the 130ft boat hurtling towards the finish line in France at a remarkable 43.6 knots. The 49-year-old father of two from Southampton will become the first Briton to circumnavigate the globe non-stop for a fourth time, beating existing records held by Dee Caffari and Mike Golding. "Despite doing outstanding speeds the last two days we have not been furious but always been in control," Thompson said. Top speed I did on my last watch was 43.6 [knots]! That's the fastest I will get to till the finish, as the wind will drop slowly. It might well have been my last full on blast on this mighty machine. We have been doing 800 miles a day, doing 35 knots, and you wonder if something will go wrong at those speeds. Banque Populaire's achievement will be the seventh successful attempt on the title since the first in 1993, although 15 crews have failed, including Dame Ellen Macarthur, whose maxi catamaran Kingfisher II dismasted near the Kerguelen Islands in 2003 and Tracy Edwards, who also dismasted in the Southern Ocean on Royal SunAlliance five years previously. Thompson is a veteran of multihull sailing with more miles under his belt than any other Briton. In 2009 he also came fifth in the Vendee Globe but has set his sights on breaking the ultimate record in sailing - round the world, solo, with no limits, in a giant 105ft trimaran.