Williams rides the waves to victory

The locals were in control of the JP Morgan Round the Island Race as overall victory and the Gold Roman Bowl went to Philip Williams, helped by well known Dragon sailor father Eric, in the 25-foot Folkboat Tattarat. They took a corrected 10hr 46min to complete the 50-mile course round the Isle of Wight with another Folkboat, Nordic Bear, second.

Winner of the Gilt Roman Bowl was the even smaller, 20-foot Tudor Rose, jointly owned by Richard and Ian Cooke of Hill Head.

In Stockholm , the Spanish yacht Telefonica Blue bounced back from the catastrophe of hitting a rock and finishing last in leg nine of the Volvo round the world race to return to inshore winning ways. With sistership Telefonica Black, the team was first and third in the first race, with the American yacht Puma in the sandwich, and then scored a one-two in the second, pushing Pima to third. But the Americans retain a 6.5 point advantage in the battle for second overall behind the unbeatable Swedish Ericsson 4, going into the final leg to St. Petersburg .

In Troia, Ian Williams beat Richard Mathieu to win the petit final of the Portugal match racing grand prix. In the final, Torvar Mirsky of Australia beat Adam Minoprio of New Zealand .

Coming up the Channel, the all-woman crew on the Open 60 Aviva, Dee Caffari, Samantha Davies, Miranda Merron and Alex Sizer, were on course to set a new record for sailing round the British Isles .