ICAP Leopard pounces on Round The Island record.
Record entries and record times marked this year’s Round The Island Race, which took place on Saturday. While Formula One Ace Lewis Hamilton’s Open 60 “Hugo Boss” was disqualified and Ellen MacArthur had to admit defeat in the Extreme 40s race, Mike Slade’s "ICAP Leopard" was the cause for celebration. With the story, A & S WHITEWOOD…
After a record entry of boats for this year’s JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race there were 1548 finishers, 82% of whom used texts to notify their finish. Six boats got caught on Ryde Sands, despite warnings from the Island Sailing Club and weather expert Chris Tibbs gave several helpful weather hints at a briefing where most competitors enjoyed a dram of Old Pulteney.
This race attracts all kinds of entrants, including Lewis Hamilton, who transferred his Formula One skills to Open 60 entry “Hugo Boss”. He joined double Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie and skipper Alex Thomson only to be involved in a pre-start collision. They were allowed to continue but were later disqualified.
While the Extreme 40 “TeamOrigin” was first across the line, in 3 hours 23 minutes and 50 seconds, Dame Ellen MacArthur had to retire from the class race when “BT” suffered a broken halyard. Cowes resident Shirley Robertson was second home, in her Extreme 40 “JP Morgan Asset Management”. But it was the 100 foot “ICAP Leopard” which had cause for celebration. Because Extreme 40’s are not monohulls, it was Mike Slade’s yacht that broke a record for the fastest time around the Island.
Weather conditions were very changeable, with most starts in fog. For the early starters, a good section of the race was in fog or a rolling sea mist. With a freshening wind, most of the fleet enjoyed the sun and breeze after the Needles and for the bulk of the fleet the weather was ideal for the race.
Several local boats had honours:
VAPHIO CUP - First Overall IRC Group 1 -ERIVALE III- Michael Greville – Cowes.
YEOMAN CHALLENGE TROPHY - First Overall IRC Group 2 - FULL PELT- Stephen Fein- Cowes.
FIDELIS TROPHY - Second Overall ISC Rating System-TWILIGHT- Patrick Moreton- Cowes.
JIMMIE READ MEMORIAL CUP - O/A WinnerISCRGrp5-CANDIDA-Roger Granger –Freshwater.
TRAFALGAR 200 TROPHY - O/A Winner ISCRS Grp 8-TWILIGHT-Patrick Moreton –Cowes.
Main trophy winners were:
OBSERVER TROPHY & JPMAM SALVER - First Monohull to finish -ICAP LEOPARD - Michael Slade - Southampton
GOLD ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER - First Overall IRC-RAN -Robert Swann - Oxon
SILVER ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER - Second Overall-IRC-MADELAINE- Edward Donald - Winchester