Brian Hillier has expressed his frustration at having to retire from the 53rd Newport Bermuda Race.

The experienced St George’s Dinghy and Sports Club sailor was forced to abandon the 635-mile race after suffering damage to the rudder on his J-125, Crossfire, and travelled the rest of the way to the island with his boat’s engine switched on.

“We were really doing well prior to the rudder issue but once that happened we had to play the safety role, and that's what we did,” Hillier told The Royal Gazette.

“We just had an unfortunate breakdown and everybody was sad that this happened.”

Hillier was competing in the St David’s Lighthouse Division in his 40ft monohull yacht accompanied by crew Ruairi Brown, Michael Wollmann, Peter Dill, Chris Adderley, William Thompson and Jason Owen.

“They were fantastic and The new guys and old guard all did a good job,” the 69-year-old helmsman said.

Hillier and his crew went into the race with confidence after picking up four wins and class honours at the 170th New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta held in Newport the weekend prior to the start of the biennial Newport Bermuda Race.

“We had a great week prior to that with the New York Yacht Club Annual regatta,” he added.

“We had a fantastic three days of sailing and sailed a remarkably good series.”

This year’s Newport Bermuda Race was Hillier’s last as he has decided to call it a day and pass on the baton to the next generation.

“I will be 72 at the time of the next race and I won't be doing it,” Hillier said.

“I am not saying Crossfire might not. If the guys want to do it, then we can work out an agreement and Crossfire could possibly do it, but I won’t be there on the boat as it’s time for me to step aside.”

Roy Disney’s Volvo 70 Mod, Pyewacket 70, was the first boat to complete the race in 59hr 17min 35sec, crossing the finish off St David’s at 1.37am on Monday morning.

Claiming line honours in the multihull division was Adrian Keller’s catamaran Allegra in 61hr 31min 30sec after crossing the finish line at 3.41am the same day.

Rives Potts’ McCurdy & Rhodes Carinawon the St David’s Lighthouse Division for the fourth time on corrected time while Andy Berdon’s JV 52 Summer Storm captured the Gibbs Hill Division.

Frank Sobchak’s sloop Northeast Wind claimed honours in the Finisterre Division while Phil Haydon’s Sunfast 3300 Fearless won class and the overall Doublehanded Division.