This morning, Loïck Peyron was just 15 nautical miles behind new leader Sebastien Josse, when the Frenchman signalled to the race organisation that his mast had broken into pieces.

The cause of the damage is not yet known, but the French skipper confirmed he still has his boom to navigate. Loïck Peyron had proven to be one of the leading contenders during the first third of the 24,275-mile solo ocean race.

For sixteen days, Peyron had been in the lead (in the 11h rankings), at the front of the 26-boat fleet on the way down the Atlantic before Sébastien Josse and then Jean-Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2) moved ahead.

It goes without saying that this dismasting is a salutary reminder of what can happen in this gruelling solo ocean race and perhaps will influence some of the other competitors, who have been pushing hard over the past few days. Peyron had experienced halyard problems on his gennaker before entering the Indian Ocean and climbed the mast yesterday to deal with this.

In a radio interview just after the incident, Loïck Peyron spoke about the circumstances of this dismasting: "There were thirty knots of wind and Gitana Eighty had one reef in the main and was under Solent. There were no particular reasons for the damage and everything was fine on board, when the mast suddenly came down without forewarning. I was inside when I heard a loud noise. When I went outside on the deck, I could see the mast had gone. I still have the boom and we're currently considering our plans."