Lance Fraser bounced back from his disappointing showing at last month’s Argo Group Gold Cup by earning a place on the podium at the Oakcliff Sailing’s Halloween Invitational in Oyster Bay, New York.

The skipper and his Digicel Business Match Racing team-mates, Clifton Kartner, Vaughn Harrison, Max St-Maurice and Tom Ramshaw, finished second behind winner Christophe Killian.

Fraser, Killian and Nicholas Kroeger finished the round-robin level on points.

But American Killian was declared the winner on a tie-breaker, having beaten Fraser and Canada’s Kroeger, who rounded off the podium.

“We started the day on a very bad note and I had a terrible start in the first race against Killian,” Fraser said.

Fraser suffered another setback after losing to Killian’s compatriot Chris Johannessen.

“Unfortunately, we made a rookie mistake in the race against Johannessen and tried to go for a penalty instead of positioning and it ended up costing us the start,” Fraser said.

“There were no passing lanes to get by him around the course.

“Both losses are extremely tough to swallow as they ended up costing us the regatta in the shortened format. It was a strong finish, although it’s always hard to lose an event on a tie-breaker.”

The conditions at last weekend’s regatta were as fierce as the competition, with ten teams from the United States, Canada and Bermuda battling 30 knot-plus winds, heavy rain and biting cold.

“The weather shock compared to Bermuda was extreme,” Fraser said. “I think it was the most miserable day of sailing I have ever had to be honest.

“It was extremely windy, it rained and hailed all day and the temperature was under 40 degrees — not normal for a Bermuda-based team.”

With the weather forecasted to further deteriorate, the regatta was cut short by one day.

“It’s the second time this year that we have had a regatta cut short because of weather and we have ended up in second place because of it, which is unfortunate,” Fraser added.