Hugo Boss dismasts

Set back for Alex Thomsons's campaign as their IMOCA 60 approaches New York

This morning at roughly 0130 GMT while sailing upwind at 25 knots, the team's progress towards New York has been interrupted when their mast broke.

The reason for the dismastingis currently unknown; however, the on-board team, which includes skippers Alex Thomson, Pepe Ribes, Ryan Breymaier and crewmember, Willy Altadill (son of Guillermo) are all safe and have stabilised the mast.

Alex Thomson has reported that there is no damage to the boat or sails and they will continue to Newport, Rhode Island with an expected arrival on Sunday, 11 May 2014. Upon arrival, the boat will be assessed.

Alex Thomson Racing’s Managing Director, Stewart Hosford, has issued a statement on behalf of the team: “This morning we were contacted by the boat and were informed that the mast is broken above the top spreader. We are relieved that the four crew members on-board are safe and we have notified their families and our sponsors. We could not have a better team on the boat to deal with this and members of the shore team are planning to meet the boat upon its arrival to Newport this weekend, and will carry out an assessment to determine if the boat can be repaired in time to enable us to take part in the New York to Barcelona race. The broken section has been secured and the boat is able to sail with the remaining mast and they are on route to Newport RI. At the moment our intention is to make a suitable repair to allow Pepe and Ryan to take part in the race but until the boat is in port and fully assessed we cannot finalise our plans”