Strong winds caused havoc in Saturday’s Round the Island Race, as rescue teams were forced to deal with 68 callouts.

A man was knocked unconscious and airlifted away via helicopter, as two other people were rescued from their capsized catamaran by the RNLI.

Gipsy Moth IV was among those unable to escape unscathed, losing her mizzen mast in a collision.

Choppy waters, a consequence of Force 5 to 7 winds, threw numerous people overboard, caused several injuries, broken boats and capsizes.

Audrey Pedersen, Solent Coastguard’s unit watch assistant, said: ‘The vast majority of those out today were very experienced sailors. The problems they came across were definitely down to weather conditions and poor visibility and the sea was rough.

‘When there is a big race of this kind we always expect some incidents, but nowhere near as many as we had today.’

The winner of the Gold Roman Bowl for first overall place was won by Jo Hutchinson and double-Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers on a Contessa 26 called Sundowner.

For more on dismasting see the Summer issue of Yachting Monthly for the latest in our Crash Test Boat series.

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Picture courtesy of Bob Aylott.