Isle of Wight sailor Jonny Malbon said today he is ''devastated'' at having to abandon his bid for the ultimate yachting prize, the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world race.

The 34-year-old, from Cowes, had been confident of completing the gruelling 26,000-mile voyage but worsening damage to his mainsail forced him to concede defeat.

Facing the isolated Pacific and Southern Oceans and a pass of the often treacherous Cape Horn, Malbon decided his split and delaminated sail was beyond repair.

He said: ''I am absolutely devastated. We have been through so much since the start and survived it all - I think I always imagined that if I went out of this race it would not be something I would have to weigh up and decide, it would just be something that happened and be beyond my control.

''The thing with this is that I could carry on for a bit but it is only a matter of time - it is no longer if but when the mainsail will just disintegrate completely, so heading out past New Zealand back into the Southern Ocean is just not feasible.

''My heart is telling me to go on but my head is telling me I have to stop and in the end it is true - I have no choice. Words cannot describe my disappointment that this has come to an end.''

Malbon, who is currently 300 miles south of New Zealand's South Island, will now turn north to make port where he will be met by members of his shore team.

This year seven British sailors took part in the race - the strongest field ever in a competition traditionally won by the French, scooping the £118,000 prize money.

The Vendee, which is run every four years, catapulted Dame Ellen MacArthur to fame in 2001 when she came second.

The winning circumnavigation should take less than 90 days with the skippers tested to the limit, sleeping only in snatches of 20 minutes as they first battle the Atlantic, then the iceberg-strewn Southern Ocean, round Cape Horn and struggle back through the Atlantic to the finish at Les Sables.

Each skipper in their 60ft yacht has email, a satellite phone and radio as contact with the outside world and they cannot stop to seek outside assistance.

The rules are simple: the first one back wins. But only about half are expected to finish this year's race which began in November last year from the French port of Les Sables d'Olonne.

It is a competition which has claimed the lives of two sailors in the past, including British competitor Nigel Burgess in 1992, and has seen several more lucky to escape death.