Sailing hero Sir Ben set to marry TV presenter girlfriend over Christmas

Writing in The Daily Telegraph about his achievements this year, the sailor said: “To top it all off, I got engaged to Georgie [Thompson] a couple of months ago and we will be getting married over the festive period. Truly, this has been a remarkable year.”

Sir Ben hinted that the couple’s honeymoon might involve sailing, saying: “And yes, there may be a boat involved on the honeymoon.”

Divulging that he had suffered from “a touch of man flu” during the Extreme 40 Sailing Series in Sydney this month, Sir Ben said: “With luck, I will not be sneezing and sniffling my way down the aisle.”

In his article, Sir Ben also described his shock in returning from Sydney after his team’s placed fifth in the competition to hear of the siege that happened at a cafe in the Australian city, describing it as a “reality check”.

He said: “It was a shame in the context of that event, but our disappointment was put into perspective when we got off the plane in England and heard the news about the gunman who held all those people hostage in a cafe just a couple of miles from the park in which we had been relaxing the previous day.”