A shock announcement bought an upbeat sailing community down to earth with the news that the Admiral's Cup in 2001 was to be scrapped due to a lack of entries.

It worried many of the region's leading sailors since it would create problems for those seeking sponsorship. Adrian Stead, a skipper on the Admirals Cup IC45 boat Barlo Plastics, said: "I think there is a chance of it coming back and I hope it does, but we have put a lot of effort into it this year.

"It will be very difficult for us in two years time to try and find a sponsor because they will want to know what happened in 2001."

Meanwhile over in Cowes, the GBR Challenge campaign was starting to take shape with the opening of the new base in Arctic Road, the arrival of three IACC yachts, two of them from the former Nippon Challenge syndicate from 2000 and an assortment of equipment loaded into seven 40-foot sea freight containers.

The 2001 Swan Regatta kicked off the Solent season attracting record numbers and Peter Morton's ILC45 Yes, helmed by Adam Gosling, took the IRM Class Championship Trophy in the RORC's AMICUS IR2000 Championship series.

The 65th Hoya Round the Island Race proved a record-breaking event for Mike Slade and a crew of America's Cup sailors on board his 90-foot monohull Skandia Leopard.

Slade, whose previous boat Longobarda already held the monohull record of 5 hours 12 minutes 3 seconds set in 1996, knocked more than an hour off his record round the 50-mile course.

Lisa McDonald, the Hamble wife of Neal, was appointed skipper of an all-women's crew in the Volvo Ocean Race just three months ahead of the start of the race, though her husband, at that stage, was tied into the GBR Challenge as a key member of the sailing team.

Hayling Island's Mark Powell won the Volvo Youth ISAF World Championships in the Laser class and Humphries won the BT Global Challenge in LG Flatron.