ICAP Leopard takes Round the Island Race monohull line honours

8:38 PM Sat 20 Jun 2009 GMT

'Supermaxi 30, ICAP Leopard in action at this year's JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race' onEdition &copy Click Here to view large photo

British supermaxi, ICAP Leopard, owned by Helical Bar PLC Chief Executive Mike Slade, has today taken monohull line honours in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round The Island Race. Finishing the race in an elapsed time of 8 hours and 3 seconds, conditions did not allow ICAP Leopard to challenge the course record that she set in last year's race of 3 hours, 53 minutes and 5 seconds.

ICAP Leopard's afterguard called a great race in the testing conditions, using every shift to gain an advantage over the other competitors. The race started in six-eight knots of wind from the northwest and rose to 10-12 knots, giving the yacht good pace out of The Needles. The breeze then died completely off St Catherine's Point with the fleet compressing into the foul tide off Sandown Bay.

'There were nervous moments as we dropped to fifth place, only recovering our lead off Gilkicker Point, halfway into The Solent,' said Boat Captain Chris Sherlock shortly after the finish. 'Although this wasn't the fastest race in history the crew worked really hard to get every last bit of power out of the boat and we are thrilled to have got line honours.'

Owner, Mike Slade, commented: 'Another year in the Round The Island Race and another cracking race. Obviously we would have preferred more breeze, to give us a chance of breaking our record from last year; but we had a great time and that's what counts. Every year it staggers me how many people get up at 4am on a Saturday morning in June to take part in this race; what a truly awesome spectacle!'

ICAP Leopard, will now spend the next couple of months chartering in the Solent before taking on her next big challenge, the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race, which starts from Cowes on 9th August. Following the Fastnet, ICAP Leopard will travel Down Under to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race starting on 26th December. This will be Mike Slade's fourth attempt at the Sydney Hobart Race and after finishing a close second in 2007, he will be aiming to go one better this time and be the first ever British boat to secure a line honours win. If all goes to plan ICAP Leopard could lay claim to a historic double in the same year.

by Alex Mills