Ian Williams’ attempt to bag an historic fifth match racing world title has resumed – despite devastation from hurricane Gonzalo.

Bermuda, the venue of the penultimate stage of the World Match Racing Tour, was battered by winds of more than 120mph as the category 3 hurricane hit.

One of the fleet of International One Design yachts used at the regatta was destroyed but a replacement was found in time for racing to commence yesterday (Weds).

Brian Billings, chairman of the Bermuda Gold Cup, said: “It was a case of how badly Bermuda fared during the hurricane – whether we still had power, still had boats and whether the competitors could still get here.

“We lost one of our yachts and also lost some housing, either because they didn’t have a roof or no power, but we were able to beg or borrow other beds.

“So after a two hour discussion on Saturday we said ‘yes, we’re on’.”

Williams, from Lymington, goes into the event at the top of the overall standings but will face competition from 19 other teams from 13 nations.

But with competitors allowed to ‘discard’ two bad results Williams said the pressure is off his crew.

The Team GAC Pindar skipper, above, said: “It is fantastic the event can go ahead - they have 10 boats together and I think we’ll get some pretty good weather this week.

“It is going to be a good regatta.

“We are going to treat it pretty casually early on and if we get into the semis we’ll start to take it more seriously and see if we can get the no1 spot,” said Williams.

Since winning the 2006 Argo Group Gold Cup, his track record in Bermuda hasn’t been his best.

“We have had some good moments, but we’ve never managed to string it together for the whole regatta.”

The event runs until Sunday.