PAT LAWLESS RETIRES FROM THE 2026 McINTYRE GOLDEN GLOBE RACE AFTER SOLENT RIG FAILURE.
Irish skipper Pat Lawless, the oldest skipper in the race at 70, sailing SILVERMINES HYDRO, has retired from the 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race after reporting a serious failure of his Solent rig while lying just over 100 nautical miles behind race leader Damien Guillou.
At 23:51 UTC on 17 October, Pat sent a short SMS to GGR Race Control:
“Pat here. Solent rig broken. Rig okay. Now sailing north. Out of the game.”
The message indicates that Pat has suffered a serious failure involving the Solent stay, the secondary forestay situated aft of the main genoa forestay and used aboard SILVERMINES HYDRO for a reefing headsail system. At the time, he was pushing into a 20–25 kt north-easterly headwind and 3–4 m seas. He is approx. 2,000 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa, in the Roaring Forties of the South Atlantic.
