An experienced sailor who had not been heard from after six days at sea has told Falmouth coastguard he is “safe and well”.

Robin Davie, 67, was expected back at his home port of Falmouth, in Cornwall, on Tuesday, having set off on a 300-mile (480km) journey from Les Sables d’Olonne, in western France last Saturday.

Falmouth coastguard issued an alert to all ships in the area on Wednesday morning after Davie’s brother, Rick, reported him overdue.

The yachtsman, who has sailed solo around the world three times and is preparing to enter the 2022 Golden Globe Race, made contact at 10pm on Friday night.

He gave his position as 25 miles (40km) south-west of the Isles of Scilly. His brother Rick said: “This is fantastic news. I am so grateful for all the help and publicity provided by the coastguard services and the media.”

Due to the weather conditions, the sailor had needed to tack further to the west, making the leg to Scilly much longer than anticipated.

Out of radio contact range and without a mobile phone signal, it was only when Davie got close enough to land on Friday that he received the coastguard’s broadcast.

Coastguard controller Dai Jones said: “We were concerned for the skipper’s safety and so we’re really pleased that he has been in contact to tell us that he is safe and well.

“Being able to broadcast continuously can pay dividends, and in this case it really helped us to locate him. We had worked out that the sailor could be somewhere around the Isles of Scilly by considering the weather conditions and what passage he would have been likely to take. It really was a case of putting ourselves in the skipper’s shoes.”