Tom Dolan had a disappointing retiral in the weekend's first on offshore race of the season that saw only 18 or 29 of the Solo Maitre Coq fleet finish the course in the Bay of Quiberon.
Dolan, who fell in the cockpit of his Figaro 3 and twisted both his ankle and wrist while in fourth place early in the race, admits to nearly giving up off La Rochelle as the pain was so bad in his ankle. See Facebook vid below.
Irish Sailor of the Year, Dolan, who was pitching to finish in the top 10 of the offshore which has a coefficient of three towards the overall 2021 standings was ninth overall after the first two inshore races of the regatta.
The concern now is that the County Meath sailor will be fit in time for the double-handed transatlantic race, from Concarneau, France to St. Barts starting on Sunday, 9th May in which he is teamed up with Gildas Mahé.