Under-fire BP chief Tony Hayward went sailing in the UK this weekend despite mounting criticism that he is not doing enough to control the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

As company officials insisted Mr Hayward was still in charge of the operation to control the spill, amid confusion over his role, he was relaxing on the Isle of Wight at the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

A yacht, named Bob, that is co-owned by Mr Hayward was taking part in one of the events.

A company spokeswoman said: "We wouldn't dream of commenting on what the chief executive does in his rare moments of private time." She did say that he was spending some time with his son.

It is understood Mr Hayward has spent much of the last eight weeks in the United States since the accident occurred.

The crisis, that has followed the blast on the Deepwater Horizon well, which killed 11 workers, has seen millions of gallons of oil continuing to threaten the Gulf Coast. It is America's worst environmental disaster and has led to tensions between the US administration and BP.