As he began his daring overtaking manoeuvre, Arthur Manning wondered if he was sailing a little close to the wind.

In fact, he was too close to the rocks. His yacht, the Jersey-registered Knight Star, ended up grounded and then wobbling in mid-air on its 6ft keel as the tide went out near Saint-Quay-Portrieux, north-west France.

Mr Manning, who was trying to speed ahead of 19 rivals in a Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club race, described it as ‘an embarrassing misjudgment’.