South Hams sailor Henry Bomby was struck by misfortune in the epic single-handed yacht race La Solitaire du Figaro.

Henry was disappointed with how the first leg has gone, as he began in fine fashion, up in 14th out of the 41 boats competing on Monday, and the first of the Brits.

Unfortunately, things went badly from there for Henry, when his big spinnaker broke on Monday morning.

Although he did effect a repair, from then on he was only able to use it in very light winds, thus severely hampering his racing.

An exhausted Henry describes the first leg as follows: 'Well, that was a classic Solitaire leg. Had a bit of everything. Huge breeze, no breeze, long laylines to get right, inshore or offshore for more breeze and a bit of a demolition derby going round Cape Finisterre too.

'It was my first time rounding and I saw 42 kts of wind, 22kts of boat speed and luckily because it was pitch black didn't sea the enormous waves!

'I had to drive for eight hours non-stop, and I mean non-stop, four choco bars and some water close by and we just sent it, 30+ Figaros all side by side setting a relentless pace.

'As we were rounding Cape Finisterre just before the sun came up my pole downhaul cleat broke, I broached hard in the worst of seas we had had, and couldn't get out of it.

'At one point  I actually nearly started sinking as the kite dragged the boat sideways through the water at 90 degrees with water going into the boat.

'I had to cut the sheet and halyard to get it down and then drag her back in through the water. In all that it got a rip in one of the clews, not surprisingly.

'For the next two hours I sailed past people with broken spi poles, broken kickers, kites wrapped around forestays which looked like they had been there a while with no sheets on anymore etc.

'I managed to repair later in the race but could only use when very light downwind, so had to use small kite in less than 5kts of wind, which was very painful!

'Higher and slower and something I hope to never to have to do again. There was also a big shut down I experienced when I had managed to work myself into the top five with just 50 miles to go which rewatching on the tracker is about as painful as living it!

'Everyone had their moment during this leg though, with so many positions changing. The trick is to finish there, huge congrats to Yann Elies and also to (fellow Brits) Sam (Goodchild) and Nick (Cherry) on a cracking result, and to Jack Boutell first rookie!'

There is, of course, a long way to go, with the competitors having completed only stage one of four, landing in Porto, Portugal, on Wednesday evening, 536 miles from the kick-off in Bordeaux.

The next leg for Henry to tackle takes him from Porto to Gijon in Asturias, northern Spain. He will be hoping for no more bad luck as he pushes on to become, at the age of 22, a two-time veteran of the famous Solitaire.