Richard Tolkien announces withdrawal from Vendée Globe 2016
by Vendée Globe on 3 Jun 2016
Richard Tolkien - 2016 Vendée Globe Lloyd Images
On 13th May, while he was competing in The Transat Bakerly, Richard Tolkien was injured and was forced to abandon his monohull to be taken aboard the Croatian cargo vessel, 'Anton' which was heading for the United States (see our article from 14th May). Left drifting, the IMOCA 60 44, was spotted without her mast a few days ago 550 miles west of the Azores and it was clear she had suffered a lot of damage.
After carrying out an appraisal of the situation, the British skipper informed the Vendée Globe Race Directors this morning that he was withdrawing his project from the 2016-2017 race. The British skipper took advantage of this opportunity once again to thank the captain and crew of the Anton for rescuing him.
As a reminder of what happened, the skipper suffered a head injury, while attempting to solve a problem on the foredeck of his boat. Richard was then forced to ask for assistance before abandoning his boat at sea. Safely taken aboard the cargo ship, he returned to dry land a few days later in Philadelphia (USA).
The whole of the Vendée Globe team is sad to see Richard Tolkien withdrawing from the list of skippers registered for the eighth Vendée Globe and would like to offer him our support and sympathy.
By withdrawing five months before the start, the British skipper has left another slot vacant in the list of 27 competitors registered for the 2016-2017 Vendée Globe.
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