A sorry-looking Atomic, dismasted after the collision with Hugo Boss. Pictures by Robin Crossley.
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ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super maxi yacht owned by Mike Slade, broke the Round the Island Race record (Saturday).
Crossing the finish line off Cowes at 9.53am, Slade and his impressive professional line-up of America’s Cup and round-the-world sailors knocked more than 12 minutes off the previous record, which he set in 2001 with Skandia Leopard.
The Farr-designed Leopard, which made her debut in last year’s race and was the largest yacht in this year's race, sailed the 52-mile course in three hours, 53 minutes and five seconds, to take her third record in a month, having broken the transatlantic speed record for yachts with powered sailing systems on June 3 and the BMW Round Ireland Yacht Race record just three days ago.
Leopard went on to post a time for the full circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight of three hours, 56 minutes and three seconds, also thought to be a record, although this will need to be ratified by the World Speed Sailing Record Council in due course.
Mike Slade said later: "Well, it's awful having to get up in the middle of the night in order to beat one's own record.
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"Round the back of the Island, we couldn't see far, but then we came round the eastern end and the sun came out. From there it was a wonderful trip home in the sunshine.
"The records looked touch and go on our way home. We didn't know how many tacks it would take to make the finish line. I am delighted we have knocked 12 minutes off the WSSRC circumnavigation of the Island record.
"My son Max was pleased to drive the boat up the first leg."
Rob Greenhalgh's Extreme 40 Team Origin was the first boat home in this year's race, completing the course in 3 hours 23 minutes 50 seconds, just ahead of double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson on JPMorgan Asset Management, also an X40.
Greenhalgh said: "We've had a fantastic day. The sailing was fast and hairy, right at the upper limit for us. From The Needles to St Cat's, there was only a quarter-mile visibility and on this type of a boat, our navigation equipment is basic.
"It's a great result to add to our iShares Cup events, which we're leading overall with two seconds.
"We'll be back at the beginning of Skandia Cowes Week for the next instalment."
Rob's crew for the race were his brother Peter, Julian Cressant and Matt Cornwell.
Meanwhile, Robertson's hotly-anticipated tussle with fellow Cowes yachtswoman, Dame Ellen MacArthur, skippering the Extreme 40 BT, came to a premature end when MacArthur was forced to retire at Hurst Narrows because of a broken main halyard. MacArthur's disappointment would have been heightened by the fact she took line honours last year.
The first start was fired by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston at 6am from the Royal Yacht Squadron.
But there was drama even before the sailing got under way when the Open 60 Hugo Boss, with F1 star Lewis Hamilton aboard, was involved in a pre-race collision.
The Farr 45 Atomic was dismasted in the incident and Hugo Boss sustained damage to her bowsprit, although she carried on to join the race - itself a record-breaker with nearly 1,900 boats entered.
• Pictures from our online gallery www.iwcpgallery.co.uk below. Click on the image for a larger version.