A 71-year-old pub landlord, racing single-handed across the Atlantic for the ninth time in 36 years, got off to a dramatic start after colliding with another yacht close to the start line in Plymouth Sound.

Sailor Peter Crowther, who has run the Green Dragon at Stoke Fleming for more than 20 years, has an unenviable history in the race. He holds the record for the slowest crossing and once sank off Ireland.

He was among the 17 starters lined up for the world famous Original Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race on Monday.

The drama began as Mr Crowther, in his Swan 38 yacht Suomi Kudu, touched hulls with Italian Andrea Mura in his Open 50 Vento Di Sardegna as the vessels jostled for position at the start line inside Plymouth breakwater.

Both vessels were undamaged and could continue with the race.

The only woman competitor, Polish-born Asia Pajkowska, in her catamaran Cabrio 2, had to be towed into port after losing steering hydraulic fluid but set off again on Tuesday.

Mr Crowther holds the race's world record for the slowest crossing between Plymouth and Rhode Island when he finished one of the 3,000-mile contests in a time of 89 days.

In 1996, he did not even finish but hit the headlines when his yacht Galway Blazer sank 500 miles south west of Ireland.

Mr Crowther was cheered off from the Plymouth start line by his wife Alix and his two daughters, Ellie and Tilly.

More on this story in this week's Dartmouth Chronicle