Underwriters at XL Brockbank's yacht insurance arm were braced for a second claim over the £4m Team Philips superyacht after a force 10 gale forced its seven crew to abandon the vessel 900 miles from the Irish coast.
XL Brockbank is both a sponsor of the Team Philips yacht and one of its insurers through its subsidiary Sextant International.
A spokesman for XL Brockbank declined to comment on whether it had received notice of a claim from the yacht's skipper Pete Goss.
He said: "We are in close contact with the Team Philips' organisers on the possible insurance perils the yacht faces and are relieved the crew has been rescued."
The spokesman dismissed reports that several craft were racing to reach the drifting yacht to claim its £1m salvage value.
Earlier in March, Sextant International was believed to have faced a claim for up to £2.6m when one of the catamaran's twin 37m hulls broke in half during its maiden voyage. It happened just two weeks after the Queen officially launched the vessel.
This is another blow for Team Philips. The state-of-the-art craft was built for the round the world race starting on December 31.
