Congratulations to Mike Slade, skipper Chris Sherlock and the ICAP sponsored Leopard team, who returned home this morning victorious, after comfortably beating the transatlantic speed record, set by Phocea in 1988.

The 100 foot super maxi completed the 2,925 nautical mile journey, between New York and Lizard Point Lighthouse, at around 20.22 (BST) last night, beating Phocea’s record of eight days, three hours and 29 minutes by over eight hours.

Created by Farr, for serial racing yacht owner Mike Slade, the 30 metre Leopard is one of the highest profile racing yachts on the water today. Representing the pinnacle of racing yacht design, the super maxi features a full set of Future Fibres PBO composite rigging, supporting her 154 foot carbon spar and up to 15,000 square feet of sail area.

Future Fibres founder Tom Hutchinson commented: “Everyone here is really pleased for Chris and all the team. We’ve been working with the leopard guys for a number of years now and I’ve known some of them for longer than I care to remember! Mark Thomas [watch captain] said the boat felt amazing right from the start, at times launching off waves at 35 knots with the speedo out of the water!

Tom continued: “We are obviously very pleased to be a part of such a successful project, Leopard really is a fantastic boat and her wide hull lines make her very well suited to high speed offshore racing. I can see Leopard winning a lot over the next couple of years and that’s great for us too, this result takes our world record tally to 43, I hope it continues!”

This morning’s victory is a deserved finish to an eventful week, which saw the 12 strong team having to avoid icebergs, dodge sleeping whales and even remove a giant sunfish caught up in the rudder!