RECORD-breaking sailor Ludo Bennett-Jones was welcomed home after an epic 2,500 journey around Britain in a dinghy by a rather familiar face.

Mr Bennett-Jones, 21, landed two records by becoming both the youngest and fastest person to circumnavigate the British coastline in a two-handed dinghy.

His godfather, the comedian Harry Enfield, was among those to join the celebrations at a party thrown by friends in north Oxford, with the 16ft Wayfarer dinghy taking pride of place.

Mr Bennett-Jones, of Rawlinson Road, Oxford, set sail from Cowes on the Isle of Wight on April 28 and by completing the trip around the coast in 47 days, halved the previous record.

The journey has so far raised more than £50,000, which will be shared between the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, which takes young people sailing, and Sport Relief.

His father Peter Bennett-Jones, the Oxford-based television producer, has over many years been the leading figure behind both Sport Relief and Comic Relief.

Mr Bennett-Jones, a former pupil of Oxford’s Dragon School, has been sailing since the age of seven. He said he was inspired to circumnavigate the British coast by his hero Dame Ellen MacArthur, who at 18 achieved the feat in a yacht.

And he was thrilled when Dame Ellen was there to greet him when returned to the Isle of Wight on July 12. Along the way he was assisted by 14 different crew members who joined him at different points of the voyage.

Traversing the Bristol channel, one of the UK’s busiest shipping lanes, he sailed clockwise past Wales, Northern Ireland and around Scotland. He said: “The west coast of Scotland was beautiful but after that there was not a single day when it didn’t rain. But I’m back home so the weather didn’t beat me.

“There wasn’t much space to move. The dinghy is also hard for ships to see but we had a bright red and white sail.”

The worst moment came just 100 miles from his journey’s end when in rough weather the dinghy rudder snapped. “It meant the dinghy was impossible to control but we managed to inch closer to land,” he said. “Eventually we had to be towed in.”

Mr Bennett-Jones, who began his sailing on Farmoor reservoir, said his ambition was to sail solo around the world He said: “One of the things I am most pleased about is that some of the money raised will help take 50 youngsters for four days sailing, which is fantastic.”