Veteran sailor Warren Brown recently completed a gruelling three-week racing stint in the Mediterranean where he successfully captured the Les Voiles de Saint Trophy onboard his 61-foot vessel War Baby.

Competing in the Traditional Classic Yacht Class comprised of over 27 boats, Brown, 79, recorded an astounding seven firsts, four seconds and a third place to clinch the trophy.

He also also finished second overall in both the prestigious Royales Trophy and Le Trophy Grimaldi events.

"The sailing was great and there were a lot of festivities on shore. It was just an exciting series of events," said Brown yesterday.

"The courses were good and what happens in the Mediterranean is that you start out relatively light and then the land heats up and the sea breeze comes in.

"It gets fresher and fresher during the day and becomes windier and you usually end up with about 22 knots going across the deck after starting out with about seven knots."

Brown attributed some great starts to his ultimate success.

"It was very important that you got a good start because you wouldn't win if you didn't," he said.

"We were very fortunate in the last series because we were first or second to cross the start line in the fleet almost every day, but you can forget it if you get blanketed by the big boats.

"So it was crucial that we got good starts and we did."

Brown also relished the "fine" sailing conditions.

"It was perfect," he said. "We had a few light days, but for the most part it was fine sailing conditions.

"It was pretty tight going around some the marks because you may have had a whole pile of boats going around the markers at the same time and some of them were extremely big boats.

"Sometimes we were going up against boats in excess of 160-180 foot. When they got on a reach they were pretty fast."

Having now savoured success in the Mediterranean, Brown says he's already looking forward to returning again next year to defend his title.

"I would certainly like to do it again if it's possible," added the former two-time Gold Cup winner.