AS anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm mad for watersports.

So when I was invited to take part in the Honda Journalist RIB Challenge at the Southampton Boat Show, I jumped at the chance.

After years of mucking about in boats, I'm a fairly competent powerboat driver so when I was told I had to beat a bunch of journalists round an obstacle course in a four-metre RIB, my confidence was pretty high.

What were the chances of a bunch of magazine journalists putting in a better performance? Slim.

Or so I thought.

The course was a tight slalom of buoys, designed to test skill and speed - and thrown in for extra fun was a man-overboard drill and a marker to reverse around.

With points deducted for hitting marks or swamping the boat with water, I was going to have to be careful, but as I motored out into Southampton Water I felt ready.

I felt even more confident after my first trial lap went swimmingly.

No penalty points, the boat wasn't sinking and it felt pretty fast.

If you hadn't already guessed, I am fairly competitive, and I hate not winning - so I gave my final lap my all.

Everything was going brilliantly until the man overboard drill.

As I reached over the side of the boat to grab the life ring, the cord attached to my leg that kills the engine in an emergency ripped from its socket - and the engine stopped.

A few vital seconds were lost before I blasted over the line with a time of two minutes exactly.

Unfortunately for me, I hadn't counted on the other journalists being from titles such as World of Powerboats and Rib International.

Yes, I had to settle for fourth.

But we were all losers really - just hours earlier a 13-year-old Irish lad had whipped round the course in one minute and six seconds.

Now that is quick.