HAMPSHIRE'S Alex Thomson arrived back on dry land today after the dramatic rescue in the Southern Ocean earlier this week.

The Gosport yachtsman said he owed his life to the rival who picked him up.

Mike Golding, 46, and his craft Ecover were in second place in the Velux 5 Oceans marathon when he turned round to sail 80 miles to pick up Alex Thomson, 32, whose racer Hugo Boss sank after capsizing.

Golding, from Warsash, and Thomson have now made landfall in South Africa.

Thomson said: "I owe an awful lot to Mike. I owe my life to him and I am just very grateful that I am here.

''We started not the best of friends, very fierce rivals, and now I think we are great mates.

''Despite everything that has gone on this past week, I have enjoyed Mike's company immensely.

''He has been a fantastic host and I am very grateful to him. I guess I am buying the beers tonight.'' After picking up Thomson, former fireman Golding then re-entered the race with Thomson onboard - only to find just hours later that his mast had broken in two places.

They faced sailing 1,000 miles for repairs to Cape Town, where they have now made landfall.

They were accompanied by a small flotilla of rescue boats as Ecover was brought into port.

Golding, now in third place, said: ''I am just very relieved to be here, adding: ''It feels great.'' He added: ''But it was nice because we were able to sail ourselves all the way to the harbour entrance and make our own way in. Which is kind of a nice way of rounding this all off.

''I am actually quietly quite pleased that we were able to take care of ourselves all the way in,'' he said.

Thomson was in third place when disaster struck. He was thrown out of his cabin when his keel suffered irreparable damage and his boat capsized.

Golding had just set a new personal best on his yacht Ecover and was catching up leader and defending champion Bernard Stamm when he turned round to save his rival.

The fleet left Bilbao in October and the first leg of the race is set to finish in Fremantle in early December before returning to Bilbao in April.