Sailing: GBR escapes dismasting in final trials

Britain's race boat for the America's Cup narrowly avoided being dismasted yesterday as it went for a tuning session on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf. The crew had to react quickly when a spreader, through which the rigging holding up the mast pass, broke. Wight Lightning was immediately brought back to the GBR Challenge base for repair.

GBR 70 is due to line up against Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes for the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup quarter-final on Tuesday and weather predictions suggest this was one of the last days available for testing.

Emma Richards slipped back a place yesterday in the 29,000 mile Around Alone race after battling in high winds to carry out vital repairs to her yacht. She was forced to climb the 80ft mast after the halyard snapped last night sending the mainsail crashing on to the deck.

She spent four and a half hours in winds reaching 25 knots as she attached a new halyard and rehoisted the 125kg mainsail. Before the onset of the problems Richards, from Hampshire, was lying in second place in the single-handed circumnavigation but she has now dropped back to third after losing 40 miles to her nearest rival, the Frenchman Thierry Dubois. This latest setback comes after the yacht's gooseneck – which attaches the boom end to the deck – collapsed on Monday.

Richards' yacht, Pindar, is now in the South Atlantic Ocean en route to South Africa. The race started in New York in September and finishes back in the United States in the spring.