AFTER surviving a brush with pirates, being boarded by a giant fish and blown up by jellyfish in the South Pacific, a Lymington couple have returned safely from an epic voyage around the world.

The two-year trip was the realisation of a long-time ambition for property developer Philip Hutchinson, 58, and his wife Gillie who have both been keen sailors since childhood.

They embarked on the trip aboard their 45ft yacht Fenella as part of an international fleet of 31 boats taking part in the Blue Water rally world cruise.

From Lymington their 29,000-mile route took them across the Atlantic via Portugal, the Canaries and Caribbean, through the Panama Canal to the Galapagos and the vast expanse of the Pacific.

After the longest unbroken stretch of sailing to reach the Marquesas Islands, the Blue Water fleet went island-hopping through the South Pacific archipelagos visiting Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu among the near 100 islands they would visit on the voyage.

But the South Sea idyll nearly ended with a bang when the boat's engine became clogged with jelly fish in Tonga.

Once underway again, the fleet ran into heavy weather heading for Australia and helped rescue the Sir Francis Chichester's reef- stricken Gypsy Moth before following the route taken by explorer Capt James Cook between the mainland and Great Barrier reef.

"That was great sailing and quite tricky," said Philip who acted as helmsman and galley slave while Gillie did the navigating.

It was off the coast of Australia, where Philip had just bought a new fishing rod, that their vessel was boarded - by an 8ft fish called a wahoo.

"Incredible, the biggest fish I have ever caught and it just jumped into the boat," said Philip who poured rum into its gills to sedate the monster mackerel.

He then took the fish ashore to a restaurant where it fed most of the Blue Water fleet.

Their journey continued via Indonesia where Philip had to buy back his shoes from the man who stole them, but a more threatening episode unfolded as Fenella and her crew plied the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden.

The gun-toting Arabs pulled alongside, threatened to shoot Philip and Gillie and tried to board the boat until another of rally fleet hove to and the corsairs fled.

"We had severe weather off Australia but from a life-threatening point of view that was the scariest moment," said Philip.

The Hutchinsons completed their round the world tour by sailing through the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean before berthing at Lymington.

Philip said: "We have seen such a lot of the world and so many interesting things, but after two years sailing around in a 45ft container I am quite looking forward to getting back to reality."