Janet Sainsbury and Keith Gibbs were forced to abandon their race across the Atlantic earlier last week, writes Graham Moody.
The pair were racing their boat, Change of Course, in the two-handed transatlantic yacht race but only made it to last Thursday, day five, when they had to turn back to land – having already stopped at Falmouth on day three to make engine repairs.
With their forestay broken, Sainsbury and Gibbs, members of Epsom-based Channel Sailing Club, did manage to rig a jury rig but were not happy doing 2,000 miles using that so decided to return home instead of continuing on to Newport in Rhode Island.
They reached the safety of Hugh Town on the Isles of Scilly on Monday.
Three other boats in the competition have also been forced to retire, leaving just five racing.
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