Lewis Hamilton in Round The Island crash

10:50am Saturday 28th June 2008

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FORMULA One star Lewis Hamilton was involved in a crash of a different kind before the start of one of the world's largest yacht races today.

But unlike his recent pit lane error when he drove into the back of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen during the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton was not to blame for today's prang.

He joined triple Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie and Alex Thomson on the Open 60 Hugo Boss for the Round the Island Race off the Isle of Wight.

Before the race got under way the Open 60 Hugo Boss collided with the yacht Farr 45 Atomic, which was dismasted.

The bowsprit of the Open 60 Hugo Boss was damaged but the vessel has continued the race.

A race spokesman said: ''Alex Thomson's Open 60 Hugo Boss was involved in a pre-start incident with the Farr 45 Atomic.

''Lewis Hamilton was sat out on the weather rail, clearly enjoying himself.

''As the head of the fleet passed Yarmouth, the visibility was deteriorating, almost to fog, which will not make negotiating Goose Rock and the wreck at The Needles easy.'' The Open 60s were the first to set off at 6am including record-breaking yachtswoman Dee Caffari aboard Aviva and Mike Golding on Ecover.

Hot on their heels were the Extreme 40s with skippers including Olympian Shirley Robertson but Isle of Wight based Dame Ellen MacArthur, last year's winner, was forced to abandon the race after a rope to her main sail broke.

This year's event has attracted a record entry of nearly 1,900 boats.

It is the largest yacht race of its kind in the world and sees Olympians, Paralympians and round the world skippers competing alongside ordinary leisure sailors, first-time racers and family cruisers.

The challenge is the same for everyone - to complete the 50 nautical mile course around the Isle of Wight, starting and finishing in Cowes.

Any boat, from a cruiser to a maxi yacht, can enter the JPMorgan Asset Management sponsored event.

Different classes of boat are given a handicap to allow them to compete against each other.

It is then added on to the final time past the finish line to calculate the winner.