Team Tonic was awarded victory in the flagship Class 0 IRC less than an hour before the prizegiving on the final day of Cowes Week after a lengthy protest meeting.

Nick Hewson's Farr 52, steered by Jeremy Robinson, was eventually adjudged to have beaten Kit Hobday's Bear of Britain into first overall with Peter Morton's Mandrake third.

Hobday originally thought he had won the final race to clinch victory in the prestigious big boat class but was disqualified for jumping the start on Saturday.

However, he overturned that decision before Team Tonic and Robert Condon's Volvo for Life presented evidence to the contrary and the false-start decision was reinstated.

All of which meant that Condon's Swan 70, steered by Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, picked up her third race-win of the week.

Disparaging

Team Tonic's second place gave her the title with one win, three second places and two fourths for 15 points from the best six of seven races.

Bear of Britain was three points behind with Mandrake five points further adrift on 23 points.

Ainslie's crew - which included Lisa and Neal McDonald and Ossie Stewart - finished in fourth ahead of Glynn Williams' Cork Week winner and early Cowes leader, Wolf, guided by Kevin Sproul.

Bear of Britain, helmed for some of the week by Chris Law, was the boat to be shot.

Hobday had angered the rest of the fleet with disparaging remarks about high-profile professional sailors during the announcement of partner Peter de Savary's prospective America's Cup bid.

In a possible taster of things to come, Hobday was involved in a lengthy protest with GBR Challenge boss Peter Harrison's Chernikeef 2 for an incident on Friday.

Harrison's boat lost out and finished the week in 11th place after also starting prematurely on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Richard Matthews' Corby 50 Flirt, with the Duke of Gloucester onboard and Harold Cudmore at the wheel, came third on Saturday to take sixth place overall.