Following the recent birth of his second child, for personal family reasons, British sailor Brian Thompson has made the difficult decision to step down as co-skipper to Guillermo Altadill in the Barcelona World Race. Thompson will remain with the team as coach to pass on his IMOCA 60 experience to Guillermo and a new co-skipper who will be selected in the coming weeks, in time for the Rolex Fastnet Race starting 1 August.

“This has been an extremely difficult personal decision for me, as ever since this race was announced I’ve been excited by the prospect. The new Farr boat we have has been superbly built, and we definitely have a chance of being on the podium with her. The boat went in to the water last week, and I am looking forward to finally seeing her sail and to developing her for Guillermo and the team. But I am very disappointed that I won’t be onboard for the Barcelona World Race but my family has to come first in this case,” concluded Thompson.

In addition to Thompson retaining an integral part of the team, British sailor Neal McDonald is joining the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team as Performance Technical Manager from now until the start of the Barcelona World Race. McDonald brings extensive experience to the team with his background in offshore racing at the very highest level. The team is in discussion with other top-level offshore skippers and an announcement will be made in due course to confirm the co-skipper.