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Tough start forces race withdrawals

Meridian was the first to reach the first stopover

PLYMOUTH, England -- A third of the boats entered in the Round Britain and Ireland Race have withdrawn in the first 48 hours of the race.

Thirteen of the 38-strong fleet, including pre-race favourites Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and Bill Foster, withdrew after a force eight gale during the first night at sea.

The race, considered one of the most difficult for short-handed sailors, began on Sunday with a gunshot from the patron of the Royal Western Yacht Club, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Race director John Lewis acknowledged that the number of retirements has been particularly high. "We have had unusually bad luck this year to lose so many yachts so early in the race."

Lewis said that most of the retirements were caused by gear failure, particularly sails and rigging.

"All the crews have reported that there were no major emergencies. With 2,000 miles to sail around the shores of Britain you can normally expect a number of retirements."

Knox-Johnston and Foster abandoned the race and sailed the 12m trimaran Sprint into Falmouth when they found one of the watertight compartments in the hull had become flooded.

Meanwhile the early finishers of the first leg were resting in Crosshaven on the south coast of Ireland during the compulsory 48-hour stopover.

Trimaran Meridian, sailed by Roger Barber and Malcolm Whitehead, was the first into Crosshaven just before midnight on Monday.

The Round Britain and Ireland, which is run every four years, starts in Plymouth with a clockwise circumnavigation of the British Isles taking in four compulsory 48-hour pitstops in Crosshaven Ireland, Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Lerwick in the Shetland Islands and Lowestoft on the east coast of England.

Leg One Plymouth to Crosshaven (arrival time)