Bullimore forced to quit attempt

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(CNN) -- Veteran British yachtsman Tony Bullimore called off his bid to break the round-the-world solo sailing record after an equipment failure on his catamaran, his support team said on Friday.

Bullimore called off the attempt after a pin holding the sailing rig to his yacht came loose 1,860 kilometers (1,155 miles) southeast of Wellington.

He was 11 days into the attempt to set a record of 70 days for the 27,000 nautical mile circumnavigation after setting off from Hobart on May 2.

"I'm devastated, particularly after the promising start I had from Hobart when I was running ahead of the record," he said in a statement released through his support team.

"I have devoted the past two years preparing for this solo round-the-world attempt."

Bullimore said he was heading to New Zealand for repairs and would then sail back to Hobart and relaunch his record attempt.

He said he was in no danger, blaming the problem on the buffeting from 50-knot winds his 31-meter (102-foot) catamaran, the Doha 2006, took two days into his trip.

"All I can say is thank goodness it happened now and not when I was deep in the Southern Ocean or close to Cape Horn," he said.

Bullimore famously survived for five days in the hull of his capsized yacht in the freezing Southern Ocean during the Vendee Globe round-the-world race in 1997.

He said the latest problem would have been much more serious if he had not spotted it early.

"If the pin had pulled out completely, the rig would have fallen down and I would have been left adrift," he said.

"When I found it during a daylight check of the rig a few days ago, my heart almost stopped.

"With the rig under so much tension, there is no way of banging the pin back in place. In fact, it is the tension that has stopped it from falling out altogether."

The current record for the non-stop, around-the-world solo trip is 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds, set by Britain's Ellen MacArthur in 2005.

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