French sailor Bruno Peyron’s 75-foot catamaran was...

French sailor Bruno Peyron’s 75-foot catamaran was heavily damaged on rocks off the English coast three hours before he completed his single-handed crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.

Peyron, 31, finished the race against his brother Loick, 27, in 11 days 11 hours 46 minutes and 36 seconds, well under his target time of 12:04:1:19--the time required for a 40-man schooner to sail the same 3,013-nautical mile course from Ambrose Light off New York to Lizard Point in southwest England in 1905.

Peyron, napping in the cabin, said he overslept because of a leaky butane burner and went aground at 16 knots, severely damaging both bows and one dagger board. He sailed the last 20 miles at a reduced 12 knots and finished 187 miles ahead of his brother, who sailed a 60-foot catamaran.

A spokesman for Peyron said he would claim a record for a solo west-to-east transatlantic crossing on a multihulled boat, breaking the 1983 record of France’s Eric Loizeau by about four days. Loizeau sailed a shorter course from Quebec to France.