At the end of the day – and it was a very long day indeed for all of the competitors – one statistic stands out: 715 finishers and 791 retirees.

Click on the video link below to watch some superb highlights footage of the 2014 JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

 


 

Race favourites for line honours, the GC32 foiling cat "Team Richard Mille", took the dubious honour of completing the slowest ever winning lap of the 50 nautical-mile course: nearly nine hours from start to finish – six hours slower than the record set by Sir Ben Ainslie last year.

Mike Slade's "Leopard" cancelled its appearance due to rig problems, so Ainslie completed the course aboard Farr 45 "Rebel" with a crew of BAR professionals.

First to the Needles was Jamie McGarry and Colin Moore's Swan 45 "Eala of Rhu" but the going was slow. "Rebel" very quickly became involved in a match race with rival Farr 45 "Toe in the Water" crewed by injured servicemen and women who had served recently in Afghanistan and the lead swapped several times over course.

In the end it was Capt Lloyd Hamilton's ecstatic crew who nudged across the finish line ahead of Ainslie and his team of professionals.

"This means everything to us," he said recording a time of 8 hrs 51 mins 39 secs.

"Beating Ben Ainslie is better than beating the Taliban for these guys.

"He left us shortly after St Catherine's Point and flew away but we kept on trying and it is apt when you look at who we have on board because it proves you should never give up.

"The guys are ecstatic at beating 'Rebel'. They don't know many of the America's Cup sailors but they know and love Sir Ben Ainslie, so are thrilled."

Slowest finisher was Sigma 33 "Sixes and Sevens", (IRC3) at 21.51.35 having started his race at 0730 and the Golden Roman Bowl for fastest boat on corrected time was a folkboat, "Madelaine".

 

For the full results, see: www.roundtheisland.org.uk