HAMPSHIRE sailing star Alex Thomson is out of the Barcelona World Race after dramatically dismasting last night.

The 40-year-old Gosport star and co-skipper Pepe Ribes have had to withdraw from a race they were leading by 60 miles after 15 days of competition.

A rigging failure led to their mast coming down in moderate weather conditions.

The pair and their shore team are this morning working out how to get Huge Boss to the nearest port, which is likely to be Salvador de Bahia in Brazil – hundreds of miles from the boat’s current position.

Stewart Hosford, Managing Director of Alex Thomson Racing, said: “This has come as a great shock.

“We have been preparing for this race for over a year, but unfortunately in offshore racing this type of failure sometimes happens.

“I now just want the skippers to get to safety and to recognise that they, and the team are very upset that this has happened.

“I want to thank our team and our partners for their support.

“Alex and Pepe were doing a superb job in this race and having spoken to both of them they are devastated that this rig failure has ended their race.”

Thomson and Ribes left Barcelona on New Year’s Eve and their race was expected to last three months.