Sailing: Oman Sail’s Class 40 retires from Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race

MUSCAT: After a strong start to the challenging Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, Oman Sail’s Class 40 team has taken the decision to retire after the backstay, vital mast support rigging, failed.
Oman Sail had just moved into a competitive fourth position in the 1,800-mile race and was off the south coast of Cornwall when the port backstay broke. None of the crew were hurt and no further damage resulted from the breakage.
After assessing possible repair options and considering predicted weather conditions, the difficult decision to retire was made.
Starting from the Solent on Britain’s south coast at midday on Sunday, the Oman Sail development team of French skipper Guillaume Le Brec, Akram Al Wahaibi, Mohammed Al Mujaini and Italian offshore racer Gabriele Olivo were right on target to achieve their pre-race goal of a top-five finish.
“We are of course disappointed to have to retire from the race as everyone has put so much energy in to getting as far as we have in this development season,” said Le Brec.
“The breakage was unfortunate and the backstay is a vital support for the mast. We discussed several possible solutions with our technical team but any stop for repair would have meant we would be behind the rest of the fleet and going around the north of Scotland in very strong wind conditions.
“We were doing very well in the race but we have made the decision to put safety first and retire from racing.”
With the mast safely secured Oman Sail was returning to its home port of Lorient, France.
Early conditions on the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race had already seen the retirement of one of the team’s leading rivals, with Miranda Merron’s Campagne De France breaking a mainsail halyard and pulling out of the race.