London: In what one environmentalist described as "yet another public relations disaster" for energy giant BP, CEO Tony Hayward took time off to attend a yacht race around England's Isle of Wight.
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with outrage, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of BP's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in US history.
Spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Hayward took a break from overseeing BP efforts to stem the undersea gusher in Gulf of Mexico so he could watch his 16-metre yacht "Bob" participate in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, called the move a PR fiasco while Gulf Coast residents expressed dismay at the news.
"Man, that ain't right," said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, Louisiana. "None of us can even go out fishing and he's at the yacht races. I wish we could get a day off from the oil too."
Mike Strohmeyer, who owns the Lighthouse Lodge in Venice, on Louisiana's southern tip, said Hayward was "just numb."
"I don't think he has any feelings," he said. "If I was in his position, I think I'd be in a more responsible place. I think he should be with someone out trying to plug the leak."
The annual one-day yacht race is one of the world's largest, attracting more than 1,700 boats and 16,000 sailors as world-renown yachtsmen compete with wealthy amateurs in the 50-nautical mile course around the island.
Hayward's boat, made by the Annapolis, Maryland-based boatbuilder Farr Yacht Design, has a list price of nearly $700,000.
Robert Wine, a BP spokesman at the company's Houston headquarters, said it was the first break that Hayward has had since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea oil gusher.
"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend. I'm sure that everyone would understand that," Wine said Saturday. "He will be back to deal with the response. It doesn't detract from that at all."
Hayward already angered many when he was quoted in the Times of London as suggesting that Americans were particularly likely to file bogus claims.
He later shocked residents in Louisiana by telling them that no one wanted to resolve the crisis as badly as he did because "I'd like my life back."
Emanuel, speaking to ABC's "This Week," said Hayward had "got his life back…I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting."
Hugh Walding of Friends of the Earth said Hayward's choice of venue was sure to arouse anger adding: "I'm sure that this will be seen as yet another public relations disaster."
