The Spirit of Bermuda won the Esperanto Cup over the weekend.

Bermuda's tall ship participated in the 26 Gloucester Schooner Race and beat out ten other ships off Massachusetts.

The win was made even more enjoyable because last year the ship was unable to compete in the race due to another boat crashing into it at the start line.

This year the Spirit arrived in Gloucester 40 minutes before the start of the race after a night of battling gale force winds and gear failure on the passage down from Rockport Maine.

Captain Simon Colley said they were still doing some repairs as they approached the first race mark

"I am so proud of the crew," the Captain said. "They have been pushing hard to get the ship ready after our annual maintenance and haulout. We were pretty tired when we arrived in Gloucester, but morale was awesome. This win is the result of the professionalism and enthusiasm of those aboard."

After a close start, Spirit reached the first mark less than 100 feet from another ship Summerwind. At one point the American ship took the lead rounding the mark however Spirit pulled ahead.

Capt. Colley said: "It was the deciding moment in the race, had Summerwind gotten ahead she could have controlled us fairly easily, being more nimble. We were able to hold her off, then extended our lead as she footed off in search of clean air."

The Spirit set sail last night after being abroad for more than a month. They hope to be home by Saturday.

The winning crew included professional crew Colin Kinsella, Bryce Potter, Lawson Williams Jr., David Goulbourne, Tristan De Silva, Daniel Brangman, Aran Mckittrick, and Shane Bagley.

The trainee crew included Gerald Smith, Ross Smith, Lawson Williams Sr., Rafe Parker, Charles Anderson, Anthony Haworth, Andre Durham, Raymond Brangman, Ian Scotton, Josh Emmerson, Matthew Outerbridge, Lakai Dill, Arnez Zuill and Brendan Amos.