Round-the-world yachtsman Sir Chay Blyth is recovering in hospital after breaking his leg while sailing in Spain.

Sir Chay, 71, was holidaying on a friend’s yacht in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Catalonia, when he lost his footing on deck and fractured his femur.

His daughter Samantha Blyth said: ‘We had had a great holiday and were all packed up and ready to leave for the airport for an early morning flight, when my dad slipped on morning dew on the deck and broke his femur.

‘It was apparently a bad break to mend, but everything is fine and dad is doing really well. Dad has broken loads of bones in his body throughout his life, arms and legs the lot, so it’s nothing new.’

Sir Chay, the first person to sail around the world against the prevailing tides and currents, was flown back to the UK by air ambulance, so he could be treated at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.