Looks like he hit a growler and broke off the front end of his starboard float. Bummer, he had made time back up to Joyon's track and it was developing into some drama especially with Joyon fighting light air in the south Atlantic. He had just broken the 24 hour speed record for singlehanded sailing also.
Yeah, it is sad to see him have to drop out. But Still at least he got to set a record before he broke down.
Soo, what is the new 24 hr. record? <img src=
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from XSRacing
We can imagine the skipper's disappointment after just beating - at 0H45 UTC - the single handed 24 hour record. Thomas covered the 619.3 miles at an average of 25.8 knots. In so doing he beats the record held by Francis Joyon (616.03) by three miles. The record is currently awaiting approval from the WSSRC. It should be noted that Thomas broke the record during his 20th day at sea, just like Francis Joyon, whilst in the same zone of the Indian Ocean, with a fairly similar weather pattern, ahead of a depression.