Pip Hare’s Medallia runs aground off Cornwall

Katy Stickland

British ocean racer Pip Hare is now heading back to Poole aboard her IMOCA 60, Medallia, after the yacht ran aground off St Austell earlier this morning

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A full risk and damage assessment is expected to be carried out on Pip Hare‘s IMOCA 60, Medallia as soon as possible after the yacht ran aground onto a beach near St Austell in Cornwall earlier this morning.
The Vendée Globe sailor was heading back to her home port of Poole after finishing the Retour à La Base race when the incident happened at 0530 UTC.
In a later video, Pip said she had fallen asleep, and had not woken up, despite the many alarms on board
Volunteers with Fowey RNLI assisted in refloating Medallia, and the operation was co-ordinated by the Coastguard.
Pip Hare aboard Medallia

Pip Hare recently came 11th in the Retour à La Base. Credit: © Pierre Bouras/Retour à La Base

Speaking after the incident, Pip said: “I am fine and the boat is seaworthy, a little bit bruised but OK. I am pretty devastated about everything that happened this morning.
“I managed to sleep through a lot of alarms and run aground off the coast of Cornwall on my delivery home from the Retour à La Base race. As an individual and as a team, we will unpack this later.
“My decision to sail home alone is largely based on the fact that we are a very small team and always need to be making economies where we can and for me, just sailing an extra 300 miles alone when I had done 3,500 miles already didn’t seem like a big risk. I made the wrong decision.
“I would just like to say a massive, massive thank you to both RNLI Fowey and the volunteer Coastguard who came down and supported as well. The Fowey lifeboat towed my off the beach this morning and I can’t praise the crew enough and if anyone wants to support the RNLI in thanks of them supporting me, then I would be really grateful for any donations you make towards them because they are a charity and basically look after our whole coastline and they were on hand when I needed them, without question, so thank you.”

Pip Hare was returning to Poole having come 11th in the 3,500 nautical miles Retour à La Base, the new solo Transatlantic race from Martinique to Lorient.

This was her first solo race following the fitting of new, bigger foils on the IMOCA 60 last winter ahead of the 2024 Vendée Globe.
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At the start of the Retour à La Base, Pip said her main goal was “to learn” and she overcame several technical issues, including small leaks in Medallia’s hydraulic system and the foil down line breaking twice.
Eleventh is Pip’s best finish in the IMOCA class yet. She finished 13th in last summer’s Vendée Arctic, 12th in the Route du Rhum, 12th in the recent Transat Jacques Vabre.
Note this article has been updated following the release of more details about the incident

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