ICAP Leopard ~ Final Blog

Firstly Congratulations to both Rambler 100 for establishing the inaugural record for the Newport to Lizard race and to Puma Logic for their IRC victory.

Following the bow sprit breakage (which rendered 30% of our sail wardrobe useless) here on Leopard we achieved our revised goal; to be third across the line in our class that started last Sunday. Our original goal was to challenge Rambler 100 and Puma Logic for line honors but on this occasion it was not to be the case. This was a tough race for many different reasons and on a yacht like ICAP Leopard there are many variables.

It is a lot more challenging sailing in light air than in medium air for long periods of time especially once we got severely held up by the ridge between us and the UK. Once we were ‘wounded’ on day 2, it could have been very easy to loose moral but this was not the case. Led by Clarke Murphy and our watch leaders Mark Thomas and Ian ‘Budgie’ Budgen, everyone responded well and pushed to 100%. We had a crew of 18 from 9 different countries, including Antigua, Australia, Denmark, France, UK, Spain, New Zealand, Canada and the USA, who all pulled together in a remarkable way.

Right now as it stands we are 3rd overall in IRC, 3rd in class and 2nd in the Atlantic Ocean Racing Series. Fingers crossed it stays this way and we can hold off the smaller boats who are still out there battling the light winds we have had to endure over the past five days! A good result for us all things considered if it stays this way, and if not, well we gave it our best shot and even achieved some firsts namely our best 24hr run to date of 510NM and ironically our worst too at 126NM!

The organizing yacht clubs, the NYYC and the RYS , along with RORC, have done a terrific job organizing this great event as part of the Atlantic Ocean Series and so we would like to pass on our thanks to all involved.

As ever a big thank you must go to our long time sponsor and friends at ICAP.

What now for ICAP Leopard? We have 30 corporate sailing days on the Solent throughout the summer which begin on Monday and during this time we will also repair our bowsprit ready to fight again in the Rolex Fastnet Race starting on the 14th August. This will be a classic event with more than 300 yachts taking part.

Recent viewing stats from our website alone ( www.leopard3.com ) show that literally thousands of people from all across the globe have tuned in to follow the race, the boat and the crew - thanks to everyone for the support and messages of encouragement throughout. We look forward to welcoming all back to follow us again at the next event.

Chris

ICAP Leopard Boat captain