March 28, 2024
ICAP Leopard   (Photo by George Bekris)
ICAP Leopard (Photo by George Bekris)

 

ICAP Leopard, the 100ft super-maxi racing yacht owned by Helical Bar PLC chief executive Mike Slade, today announced the required weather window for her record attempt has finally arrived. She will leave New York on Saturday 29th May in her bid to become the fastest monohulled sailing vessel ever to cross the Atlantic.

ICAP Leopard’s weather router, the internationally renowned Roger “Clouds” Badham, yesterday informed the crew that a suitable weather window will open on Saturday and Chris Sherlock, skipper and boat captain, took the decision to pull the trigger on the record attempt. Throughout the night ICAP Leopard’s berth in Newport, Rhode Island has been a hive of activity as final preparations were made, provisions taken onboard and the assembly call was fired out to ICAP Leopard’s highly experienced crew of ocean record-breakers.

Amongst the crew currently flying to New York are some familiar faces such as Ericsson 4 crewman Guy Salter, experienced watch leader Mark Thomas and veteran navigator Hugh Agnew, but also several new members of the ICAP Leopard team. This newer contingent includes English bowman Freddie Shanks and Aussie watch leader Anthony “Youngster” Merrington, both fresh from the Green Dragon campaign in the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race. Also onboard will be world-renowned ocean racing experts Justin “Juggy” Clougher, Michael Joubert and Guillermo Altadill who have amassed no fewer than 11 Whitbred / Volvo Ocean Races between them. Together they will be sure to add considerably to this already highly accomplished crew.

 

ICAP Leopard In Newport (Photo by George Bekris)
ICAP Leopard In Newport (Photo by George Bekris)

 

The benchmark that ICAP Leopard will be aiming for is the outright monohull west to east transatlantic record of 6 days 17 hours and 52 minutes, set by Mari Cha IV in 2003. This means that ICAP Leopard will have to keep up a fearsome pace but navigator Hugh Agnew is confident that they have the weather for it.

Agnew commented: “Everything is looking good at the moment. There is a low pressure system due to develop over Nova Scotia that we are aiming to hook into at the weekend. This would give us a fast start to our record attempt. If all goes to plan we should then have some time in the bank to deal with any high pressure that could get in our way on the approach to the U.K. It looks like it might be a challenging run but we can’t wait to get started.”

 

 

ICAP Leopard Crew List: Transatlantic Record Attempt 2010
NAME   NATIONALITY   POSITION
FREDERICK SHANKS   BRITISH   BOW
JOE HEYWOOD   SOUTH AFRICAN   BOW
DARYL WISLANG   NEW ZEALAND   BOW
GUY SALTER   BRITISH   BOW
JUSTIN CLOUGHER   AUSTRALIAN   BOW
LOUIS SINCLAIR   NEW ZEALAND   MAST PIT
TIM SELLARS   AUSTRALIAN   MAST PIT
TIM BURNELL   AUSTRALIAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
ADAM HAWKINS   AUSTRALIAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
MICHAEL JOUBERT   SOUTH AFRICAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
LUKE MOLLOY   AUSTRALIAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
GUILLERMO ALTADILL   SPANISH   TRIMMER/DRIVER
GIAN AHLUWALIA   CANADIAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
BRETT JONES   AUSTRALIAN   TRIMMER/DRIVER
ANTHONY MERRINGTON   AUSTRALIAN   WATCH LEADER
MARK THOMAS   AUSTRALIAN   WATCH LEADER
CHRIS SHERLOCK   AUSTRALIAN   CAPTAIN
HUGH AGNEW   AUSTRALIAN   NAVIGATOR

 

ICAP Leopard (Photo by Rick Tomlinson)
ICAP Leopard (Photo by Rick Tomlinson)
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