British yachtsman Mike Slade OBE, whose 100ft supermaxi ICAP Leopard 3 took line honours and set a new Round Ireland Race record in 2008, has died.

Slade completed the Wicklow-to-Wicklow offshore classic in 2 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes and 47 seconds, a performance that remained the official Round Ireland Race monohull record for eight years. Afloat's contemporary record tables show that Leopard eclipsed the 1998 mark established by Colm Barrington's Jeep Cherokee.

The record was finally broken in the 2016 race by George David's Rambler 88, but Slade and Leopard 3 had by then established a lasting connection with one of Ireland's foremost offshore races.

Leopard's Round Ireland Record

The Farr-designed Leopard 3 was a 100ft supermaxi launched in 2007 and conceived specifically for high-speed offshore racing and record-breaking. Slade's backgrounder credits the yacht with 15 world speed and race records and numerous line-honours victories.

Her Round Ireland performance came just a year after launch.

Afloat subsequently recalled ICAP Leopard as the yacht Irish sailing followers would remember for holding the Round Ireland record following her "spectacular circuit of Ireland in 2008". By 2010, she had already broken 12 major offshore racing records.

The scale of the 2008 achievement was underlined ahead of the 2016 Round Ireland Race when Afloat reported that George David regarded Slade's 65-hour record as the benchmark Rambler 88 had to beat. Leopard had averaged approximately 10.8 knots around what proved a demanding course.

Afloat's later review of sailing records around Ireland lists the 100-footer as the largest keelboat to have sailed around Ireland entirely under sail, recording an average speed of 10.7 knots for her 2008 circuit.

From Dinghies to Supermaxis

Slade's involvement in sailing began long before the Leopard era.

He learned to sail during childhood holidays in Cornwall and received his first boat, a GP14, when he was nine, racing on the Camel Estuary. A serious car accident in his early twenties interrupted his sailing, but he returned to the sport in his thirties.

His progression into big-boat racing included an Ocean 80 named Ocean Leopard. In 1991, encouraged to enter the Round the Island Race, the yacht broke the existing course record, an achievement that helped cement Slade's enthusiasm for racing.

There followed increasingly competitive yachts including Longobarda, Leopard of London and ultimately Leopard 3.

A World-Beating Leopard

The 100ft Leopard 3, designed by Farr Yacht Design and built in Australia, became the best-known of Slade's yachts.

Beyond her Round Ireland exploits, she achieved major successes in races including the Rolex Fastnet Race and Round the Island Race.

Slade remained highly competitive with the yacht. In 2016, Afloat reported Leopard 3 winning the Maxi Racing Class at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo after a close final-race battle with Rambler 88 — the yacht which had by then succeeded Leopard as Round Ireland Race record-holder.

Slade said his attraction to sailing included the unusual opportunity it gave an older amateur competitor to line up alongside Olympic champions and professional sailors and compete directly against them.

His involvement in the sport extended beyond his own racing. He was a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, supported Tall Ships and Youth and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, served on the London branch committee of the RNLI and was Vice Admiral of the Mary Rose Trust.

His yachts also provided training and career opportunities for young British sailing talent, some of whom subsequently competed in America's Cup campaigns and the Olympic Games.

Life Away From Sailing

Away from the water, Slade spent 35 years leading Helical, including more than three decades as chief executive and three years as chairman before retiring from its board in 2019.

He was also heavily involved in charitable fundraising. His work included LandAid and a £70 million campaign for the Oak Cancer Centre at The Royal Marsden in Sutton, which opened in 2023.

Slade was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to charity, particularly his work with LandAid. He is survived by his wife Heather and children Kate, Max and Hugo.

For Irish sailing, however, his name remains particularly associated with that landmark 2008 Round Ireland Race, when ICAP Leopard 3 became the fastest yacht yet to complete the race course and established a record that stood until the arrival of Rambler 88 eight years later.