There was drama on the high seas during the third day of the Bermuda International Invitational Race Week regatta as Bill McNiven and his crew were involved in a serious collision in the Great Sound.

Fortunately no one was injured when the defending champions, which included crew Martin Siese, Patrick Cooper, Andrew Butterworth and Melinda Bessey, became entangled while attempting to tack under English rival Oliver Dix’s boat on port as the latter was laying the first windward mark on starboard tack.

“We were coming into the first windward mark and basically got caught in between two minds to either duck a starboard tack boat or try and tack underneath them and be able to make it around the mark,” Siese, the local team’s tactician and former helmsman, told The Royal Gazette.

“We got in two minds, left the decision too late and ended up tacking when we really didn’t have the room to.

“It was very windy. They were heeled over with their mast leaning way over, and as we tacked the wind comes out of our sails, our mast stands upright, got tangled and unfortunately broke their mast. We were in the wrong, rules-wise, and had to retire from the race taking the full blame for what happened, so not a good day.

“Basically it was little bit of indecision and not making our minds up soon enough led to the incident. A good lesson to learn from it is in windy conditions like that you make your mind up early and stick to it because changing your mind can result in exactly that happening.”

Dix, of Royal Thames Yacht Club, was later awarded redress by the race committee during a lengthy post-race hearing.

The incident marred what was initially a brilliant start to the day for McNiven and crew after they clinched the International One Design class A series to retain the Jordy Walker Memorial Trophy.

“We just squeaked out the A Series so that was good and we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves at that point, but it was not a great end to the day,” Siese said.

Despite their ordeal the defending champions remain in contention for overall honours as they trail leader Ted Murphy, of the Chester IOD Fleet, by two points after discarding their worst finish (tenth). However, they can ill afford any further setbacks if they are to win the coveted Vrengen Gold Cup for the fourth straight year.

“We’ve got no room for error so we are going to have to do well in every race now,” Siese said.

“The weather looks OK for Thursday and Friday, so hopefully we will get four more races in.”