Chris Parsonage guides Negotiator in Plymouth before an engine failed

Gavin, racing a 225hp Honda 4-stroke capsized his boat Negotiator before the race started on Sunday.

He and navigator Nathan Libby escaped unhurt after the crash at about 60mph.

Father Chris had to pull out of the Class 1 race when a piston broke on his 160mph boat, also called Negotiator, 20 minutes after the start.

Thrown clear

Southampton throttleman Steve Curtis, who has been leading the championship with driver Bjorn Rune Gjelsten in Spirit of Norway, also broke down.

The Class 1 race was won by Ali Al Qarma and Ali Nasser in Dubai-based boat Victory 7.

Gavin Parsonage, 24, who had achieved some excellent results including a first in his first season racing in the Honda 4-stroke series, said: "We were on the straight when the boat lifted up and corkscrewed in the air.

Gavin and Chris Parsonage were hoping for success on home turf

"We were thrown clear and the boat landed upside down.

"We're gutted. We had a problem with one of the engine mounts yesterday that we thought we'd fixed this morning but the boat wasn't handling properly from the moment the green flag went up.

"We nearly lost it twice on the first straight before rolling the boat on the second. No harm done to us, apart from being soaking wet, but we are disappointed."

For father Chris, 46, of Liskeard, it was a disappointing end to the weekend in front of a home crowd.

He and throttleman Peter McGrath were forced to wait outside the breakwater in Plymouth Sound until the race had ended before being towed back in.

But thousands of people on Plymouth Hoe enjoyed the spectacle as the world's fastest boats were tested to the limit.

Racing was temporarily suspended on Saturday when a school of dolphins was spotted in the harbour, but they left the area clear for racing on Sunday.