Record leap too far for Leopard

Try as they might, Mike Slade's all-star crew on ICAP Leopard were unable to crack the nut that is Rambler's course record.

Arriving just before midday in Marsamxett, the 100-foot Farr-designed super-maxi was just over half an hour outside the mark set by George David and Ken Read two years ago.

Slade made no excuses on the dock after stepping ashore. He believes they raced as well as they could in the conditions.

He was quick to acknowledge that for every frustration they had encountered, Rambler was sure to have suffered in some way herself.

Asked if he could identify any points on the course they could have made up 30 minutes, he replied wryly, "at least 20."

ICAP Leopard's record attempt was always in the balance the moment they crossed the start line.

Assuming one sails the boat to its full potential and suffer no breakages, success is still dependent upon the weather. 606 miles in less than 48 hours is well within the capability of a canting keeled, water ballasted flying machine, staffed by some of the world's top racing specialists.

Brad Jackson, Jules Salter and Guy Salter were all on the winning boat in the last Volvo Ocean Race. Rob Greenhalgh raced on the second placed yacht, whilst Justin Slattery raced on the winning boat in the previous VOR.

Jason Carrington has probably built more race-winning boats than there have been Rolex MSRs. Sailmaker Jeremy Elliott is another who has raced around the world and at the America's Cup.

Hugh Agnew navigated the winning yacht at the 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart. And, in case anyone needed reminding, Slade has raced at the grand-prix level of the sport on a variety of state-of-the-art maxis since the early 1990s, invariably with the reassuring hand of Chris Sherlock to run the boat.

Experience and ability were two things in plentiful supply. What kept holding Leopard back was the vagaries of the wind.

"This race is very special," Slade said.

"It always is. It is a tough race and a great race, but any race that goes round in a circle is going to have lots of pitfalls. You are seeing land all the time and you suffer all the things that happen because of the land. There's a saying that Etna sucks wind out of the Strait and it was true for us. We got stuck in its shadow.

"We got through and punched on towards Stromboli and that's where the problems started."

It was here that the mini maxis Rosebud/Team DYT and Bella Mente dropped by the wayside in dramatic fashion.

Some 20 other competing yachts have followed these two into the sickbay as strong gusting winds lashed the northeastern corner of Sicily for 36 hours.

"We had five or six hours of real weather front," Slade added.

"We're a big strong boat and can cope with it. In fact, we were hoping to get more of the same at the bottom of the course."

This hope never fully materialised, as he went on to explain.

"It took 12 hours to get across to the Egadi Islands and it was only then on the way down to Pantelleria that we started putting on some real boat speed.

"We would have liked it to carry on down to Lampedusa, but it just didn't happen. There was no wind there."

At that point Leopard was 75 minutes off Rambler's blistering pace.

Munching the miles to Comino was something this boat was born to do. But she needs wind. Slade had said before the start that 20 knots of wind and flat water would be ideal. What he got for the final long leg was sloppy water and soft winds bouncing between 12 and 18 knots.

"It was a struggle to get back from Lampedusa to Comino," continued Slade.

"And it was a struggle to get into harbour because the wind was dead aft and we had to do some monumental gybes."

Philosophical in defeat, if line honours in a second successive 600-mile race may be described as such (ICAP Leopard had been first home at the Rolex Fastnet in August), Slade admitted asking himself where they could have saved the 30 minutes.

He was adamant that there were any number of places and not one thing in particular could be blamed, adding "that's racing and we'll have to do it again now, won't we". Malta cannot wait.

Karl Kwok's Beau Geste was second across the line at 15.28 and moved into pole position on handicap.

Her place in the spotlight was short lived though as Alegre finished at 18.33 and looks to be secure for the overall win against the next boats to finish, which include Rán and Luna Rossa and significantly the remainder of the fleet.