Pinsent's Fastnet race diary

Watch Matthew's full report on Inside Sport when it returns on 3 September

Matthew Pinsent has pulled out of the famous Fastnet yacht race after two days because of tempestuous seas ahead.

Pinsent was aboard Dee Caffari's Aviva Ocean Racing, which has withdrawn from the 608-mile course from Cowes to Plymouth via Fastnet Rock.

The Olympic rower has been filing regular reports for BBC Sport, so read how the adventure came to an early end...

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TUESDAY, 1130
OFF THE COAST OF PENZANCE

"We are coming back east along the south coast towards the start line of the race.

"Between us and the coast, I can still see boats going out to race, so you can only hope that they are in state to cope with the weather ahead of them.

We felt that it was probably the best decision to turn round and go home

"It's just a completely different environment at sea where small things can have big implications.

"The weather forecast for the next 12 hours is for 45-knot winds in the Irish Sea and, given that we have a couple of tears in the main sail, we felt that it was probably the best decision to turn round and go home.

"We were dealing with 35-knot winds last night and that means everything becomes an effort.

"Walking around, making any type of food and any bodily function becomes incredibly difficult.

"I was safely down below deck clutching a bucket. It is pretty horrendous when you are being bashed around and the boat is creaking and groaning in quite an alarming way.

Aviva Ocean Racing yacht suffered damage to the mainsail

"It was very dark last night, there was driving rain and visibility was very low. All the time, this large ocean-going yacht is pitching and rolling into big troughs, crashing down and climbing out.

"I had suffered bouts of sea sickness throughout the day and managed to get some sleep last night but it wasn't frightening.

"I would have been happy to carry on if it was more of the same, but if it was going to get worse, I'm not sure how much more either I or the boat could have taken really."

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TUESDAY, 0912
IN THE ATLANTIC

"Withdrawing from race and heading back to Southampton. Hole in the mainsail makes carrying on folly. Gutted."

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MONDAY, 2223
OFF THE COAST OF TORQUAY

"As darkness falls we are just past Torquay, making steady progress along the south coast.

"The rain has arrived and the clouds have ruined any chance of seeing the meteor shower tonight.

Eaten one sandwich and one flapjack so far, both returned to the sea

"We seem to have had a myriad of small problems, tangled lines, stalled turns and now a battery problem but it seems to be the way when at sea nothing is straightforward.

"Dee and Mike are in good spirits and seem intent on making the trip enjoyable for me, which given their immediate racing priorities is above and beyond the call.

"Nausea has, however, hit me badly, but my crew-mates have seen it all before so with an easy route to the rail on deck and a bucket bunkside below the Fastnet for me is being punctuated by unpleasant episodes.

"Eaten one sandwich and one flapjack so far, both returned to the sea."

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MONDAY, 1319
MAP CO-ORDINATES: 50.42.84 NORTH, 1.29.83 WEST

"With the race less than two hours old we are already duelling with the other slower boats in the Open 60 class.

"Aviva's decade-old design and original missions were not tacking out of the Solent into a strong south westerly wind.

"At the moment the concern is the weather that is ahead of us on the Irish sea. The forecast is not good."

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SATURDAY, 1800
IN THE SOLENT

"The start of the race has been delayed 25 hours so the start is now Monday morning rather than Sunday - the cause is a forecast of high westerly winds in the Irish sea for Monday and Tuesday.

"The organisers' logic is that they would prefer the fleet to race west into the wind and do the return leg on lesser wind late Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Apparently, for smaller craft and less experienced skippers the bigger danger is too much sail downwind. The result is that the fleet will be set off into the high winds at 1100 BST Monday. I'll try to file updates and diary from Monday afternoon onwards."

RACE INFORMATION

The Fastnet race was first contested in 1925. This year's fleet of 300 yacht is the largest fleet assembled since 1979, when a freak storm in the Irish Sea resulted in 15 deaths.

The start of the race, likely to take four days, was delayed for the first time ever, by 25 hours from Sunday until Monday 13 August due to severe weather warnings in the Atlantic.

Caffari, the first woman to sail non-stop solo around the world "the wrong way", was competing in the Fastnet in her 60-foot yacht as preparation for next year's Vendee Globe, when she will try to sail solo the other way around the globe.

Pinsent was a "non-participatory" crew member on board Aviva Ocean Racing and sent back reports via his laptop.

He is also making a film for the first edition of the new series of Inside Sport, which returns at 2315 BST on Monday 3 September.