It would take the best part of another 4 hours for the final boat to arrive by sea whilst the early casualties,eager to fight another day, packed their craft onto trailers and drove through the night in readiness for the second stage to Milford Haven in Wales.

Racing around Britain’s iron coast demands exceptional navigational skills, courage, tactics and determination with crews as durable and robust as the boats they race. That said, there is nothing to be gained by exposing boats and crews to unnecessary risks and the organisers rightly cancelled stage 2, with winds at Gale Force 6 and waves of up to 30ft in the Bristol Channel.

The assembled fleet headed overland for the third leg across the Irish Sea to Bangor in Northern Ireland. In surprisingly moderate conditions, the boats raced to Northern Ireland, led by the Goldfish RIB of Norwegian team, Gutta Boyz, driven by father and son, Nick and Ivar Tollefsen, closely followed by Wettpunkt.com.

In third place was Blue FPT, a Greek-entered FB Design who, with the Norwegian RIB, Lionhead, was already starting to show with two consistently fast finishes.

Day 4 and to Scotland and Oban, the picturesque ‘Gateway to the Isles’. With normal service resumed there was no stopping Wettpunkt.com who covered the 113 nautical mile course in 1hour 43 minutes at an average speed of 76mph.