Kelsey Durham’s title aspirations took a major hit, literally, at the International One Design World Championship in Norway on Wednesday.

The Bermudian helmsman was involved in a collision with American rival Jonathan Farrar while rounding the windward mark in the fifth race in moderate 10 to 15 knot breezes.

“Basically l came in on port tack to the top mark and I thought I had enough room to get in and I didn’t,” Durham told The Royal Gazette.

“I collided with another boat, ran over the stern and broke their backstay.”

Durham and crew Nico Stefani, Heath Foggo, Roger Beach and Michael Richold were disqualified and hit with a DNE (Disqualification Not Excludable), which will count towards the team’s final overall points tally after they were held accountable for the unfortunate mishap.

“We got disqualified so maximum amount of points [21] for the last race today,” Durham said.

“We were in the wrong and they [race committee] gave us a DNE, which means we cannot drop that race, so I have to carry that.”

The 30-year-old started the day in second but slipped to tenth having finished fourteenth in the fourth race and ninth in the fifth before the race committee imposed the sanction against him during a protest hearing.

“Hopefully we can get back in a groove tomorrow and Friday,” said Durham, who is making his debut at the championship and got his campaign off to flyer after posting a second and third in the opening two races on Monday to thrust his team in early contention.

Also representing Bermuda at the regatta is 2024 Bermuda International Invitational Race Week champion Patrick Cooper and crew Martin Siese, Andrew Butterworth, Bill McNiven and Craig Davis.

Cooper started the day in tenth but also lost ground in the standings as provisional results showed his team in thirteenth after finishes of eighth and sixteenth.

“Challenging conditions for us today, light winds but with a swell that was 90 degrees to the wind,” Cooper said.

“Add in a current and it’s not conditions we sail in Bermuda. We felt comfortable with the boats today, but got unlucky in the second race on a mark rounding as we had to avoid an incident in front of us. We also got hung out on the wrong side of the course when a 45 degree wind shift occurred. Overall, despite the results we are improving.”

Defending champion and multiple Bermuda International Invitational Race Week winner John Burnham leads the standings by a point over fellow American Tom Fremont-Smith, who was crowned IOD World champion when the island hosted the event in 2021.

Canadian and four-times Bermuda International Invitational Race Week winner Peter Wickwire sits in third, seven points off the lead pace.

The 2024 IOD World Championship resumed on Wednesday having been postponed the previous day due to high winds.

High winds also delayed the start of racing at the event by a day after organisers cancelled the opening two races on Sunday to prevent boats from being damaged in the adverse conditions.