Tracy Edwards may have missed the record-breaking 24-hour run in her 110ft catamaran Maiden 2, but she and her crew got cautioned for speeding yesterday anyway. Thames River Police came alongside the boat while Edwards and her crew were sailing her up the Thames to London and warned her that she was breaking the eight-knot speed limit.

This is the second time that the boat has been too fast for her own good. When she was Club Med her previous skipper, Grant Dalton, was fined £12,000 and an additional £3,000 in costs when he was prosecuted for gybing through the traffic separation zones off Dover at between 20 and 29 knots.

This time, the boat was travelling at a more sedate pace and the police are said to have given Edwards a gentle reminder of the rules.