When Pete Goss and his ‘Team Phillips’ Catamaran first happened upon The Islands, neither he nor the speculative Islanders could have predicted that this first problem would be only the start of a epic line, ending up with the vessel having to be abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic.
Shortly after setting off for sea trials in March 2000, Team Phillips had to be towed into St. Mary’s by the local lifeboat ‘The Whiteheads’ because a major structural flaw had been observed which ended up in the boat losing its bow section. After that problem was overcome, the masts had to be refitted due to another design flaw. A crewmember then declared it unsafe and quit the project. Finally, the vessel had to be abandoned as the crew lost control and had to be rescued by a passing cargo ship.
One of the sailing vessels masts has now been found in Donegal, Ireland by one of the men who designed it! This strange twist of fate occurred when the designer, Rob Feloy was in Ireland to meet the Atlantic canoe crossing.
It became apparent that the mast was found by a local fisherman who planned to turn it into a drainpipe. Mr Feloy commented that it would be one of the most expensive and structurally complex drainpipes in Ireland.