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Snapped mast ends sailor's round-the-world race

PA Media Pip Hare looks over the edge of her yacht toward the sea as she fastens a rope around a metal pole. Her blonde and grey hair is windswept and she is wearing a large red waterproof coatPA Media
Pip Hare was taking part in her second Vendée Globe race around the world

A snapped mast has ended a sailor's bid to be the first woman to finish a 24,300-mile (39,100km) race around the world for a second time.

Pip Hare, 50, who set off in her 60ft (18m) yacht Medallia on 10 November, suffered a dismast about 800 nautical miles (1,480km) south of Australia during the Vendée Globe race.

She said was "really devastated" by the end of her solo attempt after four years of preparation and planning.

Hare lived in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and learned to sail on the River Deben in Suffolk. She is now based in Poole, Dorset.

PA Media A drone image of the Medallia yacht sailing on the sea. It has large black sails and a blue body. The name Medallia is printed on the side of the yacht's body in white letteringPA Media
Hare was sailing her yacht Medallia completely on her own when the mast snapped

The yacht's mast snapped in two at 21:45 GMT on Sunday.

Hare said: "It all feels pretty raw right now.

"The boat and I were in really great shape, having a really good race and we were about halfway round the world. So, to dismast now is really brutal."

She had patched together a "jury rig" - using what is left of the mast and some sail to keep moving without relying on her engine - and was making her way towards the Australian coast.

"I'm just really devastated; it was the greatest edition of the Vendée Globe yet," she said.

"It was a highlight of my career and for it to end in this way is really punishing.

"But a race of this nature that's three months long, taking you to some of the world's most extreme environments, these things happen and unfortunately, it's happened to me this time."

She added she was "fine, the boat's fine and we are making our way to the shore".

Hare, who set up her racing team in 2019 with a £25,000 bank loan and a crowdfunding appeal, was tipped as a top-10 finisher in the prestigious and gruelling race, which has been expanded to 40 yachts from the previous 33.

"For me, this is my version of a World Cup or the Olympics," she said, before setting off.

"It's the Vendée Globe race - it's the toughest sailing race in the world."

The single-handed yacht race began off the coast of France and Hare had been in 15th place when the mast snapped.

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