The TP52 5 West, owned and helmed throughout today's race by Sir Keith Mills, with Robert Greenhalgh as boat skipper, has been announced as provisional overall winner of the Gold Roman Bowl this year. Speaking with Sir Keith after the Race he said,
"It was a great race, although I didn't expect to win as it's usually a small boat like a Folkboat or Contessa 26 that gets it in the end.
"We always have a good tussle with the other TP52s - Pace and Weapon of Choice - but today we had a new sail that we've not used much before. It's an A3 spinnaker that helped us pull away from Pace on the way to the Needles. We then had some really good fast surfing round the back of the Island, although my arms feel as though they have stretched today - the boat has tiller steering, which is hard work.
"It was great for the team on board today. They really enjoyed it and it was more special because most of us were at Bart's [Andrew Simpson] funeral yesterday - we all thought it would be a fitting tribute to him if we had a good race today."
ISCRS provisional overall winners
The top boats in the ISCRS rated classes this year are a mix of large and small boats. The winner is Peter Bainbridge's J/122 Sky Hunter ll, which crossed the line at 1222 to take the Silver Gilt Roman Bowl.
The second boat on corrected time is the second-slowest rated boat of the 1,459 entries, Gavin Mann and Robert Lewis' 39-year-old Fisher Freeward 25 motor sailer, Nexus. She finished shortly after 1600 and missed taking the top spot by the tightest of margins - a mere 14 seconds.
Next in the overall ISCRS standings was another big boat, Nick Atkinson's Beneteau First 47.7 Firefly, with Brian Haugh's wooden classic East Anglian class from 1958 fourth overall.
There are now fewer than 200 boats still racing, with the bulk of the remainder now within sight of the finish, although a few stragglers are further back and making slow progress. They have until the time limit of 2130 to reach the finish.
Today's main highlights:
The TP52 5 West, owned and helmed throughout the race by Sir Keith Mills, with Robert Greenhalgh as boat skipper, has been announced as provisional overall winner of the Gold Roman Bowl.
Sir Ben Ainslie's 45ft America's Cup catamaran J.P. Morgan BAR stormed round the Island in 2 hours 52 minutes 15 seconds, carving more than 16 minutes off the record time set by Francis Joyon in 2001.
Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard finished at 0843.50, shaving 9 minutes 45 seconds off the monohull race record he set in 2008.
Last year's overall Gold Roman Bowl winner, the TP52 Weapon of Choice (which sailed as Manroland Sheetfed in 2012), has picked up a time penalty for a rule infringement, putting her out of contention for the big prizes today.
Phil Cotton's 30ft Seacart trimaran Buzz is confirmed as winner of the Grand Prix multihull class on handicap, with a half hour lead on Sir Ben Ainslie's record breaking 45ft catamaran J.P. Morgan BAR on corrected time.
One of the five Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust boats, EMCT 2/Scarlet Oyster is confirmed as finishing third in class.
LINE HONOURS OVERALL (first over the line)
1. J. P. Morgan BAR (Sir Ben Ainslie) 2hrs 52mins 15sec
2. ICAP Leopard (Mike Slade) 3hrs 43mins 50sec
LINE HONOURS MONOHULLS
1. ICAP Leopard (Mike Slade) 3hrs 43mins 50sec - winners of the Observer Trophy and J. P. Morgan Asset Management Trophy
2. Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson) 4hrs 12mins 1sec
LINE HONOURS MULTIHULLS
1. J. P. Morgan BAR 2hrs 52mins 15sec
2. Buzz (Phil Cotton) 3hrs 54mins 47sec
