surprise victory in the West End Sailboat Club's annual long distance comet race from Dockyard to St. George's yesterday.

Simmons and his nephew brushed off a tough challenge from Rudy Bailey and his 11-year-old daughter, Danielle, in Temptation and in winning also denied pre-race favourite Stevie Dickinson in Kitty Hawk II a share of the record 11 wins held by Alton Millett.

Simmons was first across the line in two hours, 30 minutes and 20 seconds followed by Bailey in 2:32.52 with Dickinson taking third place in 2:33.34.

Newcomer Glenn Astwood had been expected to challenge in Radical but was never a threat in winds which rarely blew above 10-12 knots and at times were substantially less.

A three-time previous winner -- twice in his old boat and once in the latest model some 13 years ago -- Simmons said afterwards he experienced few difficulties along the course, although the wind was inconsistent and, at one stage, virtually non existent.

"It was a pretty straight forward race,'' said Simmons. "I came down the centre along the North Shore while the two boats behind me, Bailey and Dickinson, were inside and outside.

"I had a real tussle with Bailey at the end and I had to force him inside where there was no wind and that's when I got the advantage.

"I was able to finish just short of a about a quarter of a mile ahead. The wind was a factor. There was a lack of it for quite a while, then there was too much and then very little again. You had to concentrate on your own boat and not worry about other people.'' Both Bailey and Dickinson agreed that the wind had been inconsistent, but complained the large fleet of spectator boats had caused problems by getting in the way and rocking the comets with their swells.

"I guess the big downfall for me was the spectator boats. They did me in big time. I am hoarse after yelling at some of the boats out there,'' said Bailey.

"But we had a lousy start, kind of premature because we only got the boat into the water five minutes before the start. We didn't get the starting sequence. I had just put a brand new mast in and it wasn't complete. I guess Murphy's Law would account for what I went through.'' According to Bailey, Simmons also got off slowly but once they got underway the pair quickly moved towards to the front and battled for the rest of the way -- with Dickinson also in the fray.

"At about the half-way mark I got level with Simmons,'' said Bailey. "But as we neared St. George's and going around the Fort he got away and Dickinson was now a close third. With my 65-pound crew I concentrated only on sailing upright and steadying things until the finish.'' Bailey, who has won the race five times, aims to add another title next year.

"My daughter hopefully will be four to six inches taller and 10 pounds heavier. We'll do just fine,'' he laughed.

Dickinson was satisfied with his third place, attributing his downfall to the lack of wind which he said benefited the boats with lighter crew.

"I actually expected Rudy to win the race because he had such a light crew in his daughter. We had a good start, the wind was light, we had good speed off and on and it was choppy. We were trying to work through the fleet of the motor boats and stuff which was expected, but I didn't have the speed that Howard and Rudy had today,'' said Dickinson, a 10-time winner.

"I didn't think I would ever catch them. They had good consistent speed and I just couldn't catch up. I figured that once Howard got into the channel we would have no chance, and by the time we got to the Oil Docks they both had a 200 to 250 yard lead on us.'' Fitted dinghy racing in Mangrove Bay yesterday saw Andreas Lewin in Contest rule the waves with a first and a third in the two races.

A day earlier Peter Bromby in Port Royal had taken honours in the BMMA match racing series, also held at the West End.

Yesterday's first race for the Gilbert Bowl saw Lewin lead Contest over the line followed by sister Paula Lewin in Challenger . Somers Kempe took third place in Echo .

Victory placed fourth followed by Port Royal while Elizabeth failed to finish.

The second race for the Cambridge Bowl saw both Victory and Echo sink leaving Bromby to take Port Royal home ahead of Challenger , Contest and Elizabeth in that order.