Maybe it was a brush with a small lump of ice, maybe not, but yesterday something caused the sacrificial bow – or crash box – to tear like paper off Thomas Coville’s giant trimaran. As a result, he was forced to abandon his solo record attempt yesterday, commenting sadly that it was like a film tragedy.

It’s a terrible misfortune for Coville, but tragic it is not. He was making an average of 25.8 knots and had seen ice several times in the previous days. The crash box worked and I reckon he was lucky. The photos above show just how many metres of the bow sheared off, all the way back to a watertight bulkhead.

Coville and Sobedo will get another go, though probably not this year, as he says he is returning to Les Sables d’Olonne after a stop in Cape Town. But with a new solo record of 619 miles in 24 hours behind him and a clear field next year, Coville will probably reap greater PR benefits next season.