Pat Lawless, the 70-year-old Irishman who had been mounting one of the great challenges of the 2026 McIntyre Golden Globe Race, has retired after a serious rig failure ended his bid for victory.
Lawless, sailing SILVERMINES HYDRO, was lying just over 100 nautical miles behind race leader Damien Guillou when disaster struck. At 23:51 UTC on 17 October, he sent a short SMS to GGR Race Control: "Pat here. Solent rig broken. Rig okay. Now sailing north. Out of the game."
The message points to a serious failure of the Solent stay, the secondary forestay aft of the main genoa forestay, which Lawless had been using for a reefing headsail system. He was battling a 20 to 25 knot north-easterly headwind and 3 to 4 metre seas at the time, roughly 2,000 miles west of Cape Town in the Roaring Forties of the South Atlantic.
Lawless had already repaired damage to the same Solent forestay a few weeks earlier. It is not yet clear whether that repair failed or whether the latest damage occurred elsewhere in the rigging.
He reported that the "rig is okay", with no sign the mast itself is in danger. The main genoa forestay, staysail forestay and the rest of the standing rigging are believed intact. Lawless has reported no injury and has not requested assistance, so GGR has not declared a CODE ORANGE.
The SMS was discovered early the following morning after a tracker update showed SILVERMINES HYDRO's course had changed dramatically, moving slowly to the north-west. Lawless's shore manager, who had also been watching the tracker without hearing from him directly, has since been informed.
Now formally retired, Lawless is free to use his satellite phone without race restrictions, though he had not made further contact with Race Control at the time of writing. His exact intentions, including whether he will head for Cape Town, remain unknown.
The retirement is a bitter blow. In the 2022 edition, Lawless was sailing strongly near the front of the fleet when his Aries windvane self-steering system failed west of Cape Town, forcing his retirement into Cape Town, confirmed on 10 November 2022. The 2026 race represented what he had called his last chance to become the first Irish sailor to complete a solo, non-stop circumnavigation in the Golden Globe Race while challenging for outright victory.
His form this time had been exceptional. In recent days he had steadily closed the gap on French leader Damien Guillou aboard SOLAREM, narrowing it to just over 100 nautical miles as the pair broke clear of the fleet ahead of the Southern Ocean. Guillou will no doubt be disappointed to lose the rival who had been pressing him so hard from astern.
Whether the failure was bad luck, fatigue built up in the rig, earlier damage sustained on the voyage, or something else entirely cannot presently be determined. For Lawless, his family and his many Irish supporters, it is a heartbreaking end to a campaign that had him firmly in contention for the win.
