Comet ace Rudy Bailey underlined his current dominance over the local fleet by capturing a third Long Distance Race title in four years in light and variable conditions yesterday.

Along with daughter crew Danielle, the veteran West End Sail Boat Club skipper claimed his tenth overall Edward Cross Cup by a comfortable, yet unexpectedly wide margin in a winning time of two hours, 41 minutes and 32 seconds while second- and third-place honours went to the fast-improving Scott Fox (two hours, 45 minutes and 19 seconds) and dethroned champion Stevie Dickinson (two hours, 46 minutes and 22 seconds) respectively.

Bailey managed to get above early pace setter Fox on a beam reach heading out of the Great Sound into open seas and was able to cover the fleet all the way to the finish during a largely uneventful regatta, while perennial rivals Dickinson and Gladwin Lambert ultimately paid a costly price for going against the grain and staying inshore.

Lambert (two hours, 46 minutes and 57 seconds) eventually settled for fourth place after edging fellow veteran skipper Byron McCallan (two hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds) by a half a boat length at the finish.

"The wind was coming out of the north and I knew that I would be able to open up a good lead with the light weight that I had onboard. I didn't get the best start. But we were still able to prevail through good boat speed and good boat handling," said a victorious Bailey.

Fox got the early jump over the rest of the fleet at the start but was soon reeled in by Bailey who was able to find an opening in heavy traffic and overtake his End End rival on the starboard side.

"It was kind of shifty at the start and everyone was jockeying for position. It looked as though nobody wanted the lead and so I just took off. But when I looked Rudy was above me heading out of Somerset and then he just took right off and maintained a pretty straight line," said Fox, who, along with crew Darren Hodsoll, enjoyed their best ever Long Distance finish yesterday.

"I got close to him but I couldn't catch him and so I decided to go inside and find my own line."

While defending champion Dickinson and Lambert were busy trying to untangle themselves amid an unyielding spectator fleet, Bailey gradually stretched his lead near Shelly Bay navigating to Fort St. Catherine on a broad reach before crossing the finish unchallenged on a starboard tack to lay claim to bragging rights for the next 12 months.

"It feels good to get win number ten — but I'm not finished yet," added Bailey. "I got a good start and after that it was a matter of keeping clean air and covering Howard (Simmons).

"He just took off from the starting blocks and blasted off the shoreline in Dockyard and hung in there with me until I put up my whisker pole (jib)."

While Bailey and others headed offshore in search of cleaner air, Dickinson and long-time friend Lambert made the costly gamble of staying inside where they were eventually swallowed up by an impressive yet unforgiving flotilla of spectator boats.

"At one point it actually looked quite good for Gladwin (Lambert) and I. But unfortunately spectator boats slowed us up. It was really incredible because half the time we were getting thrown around by wake from passing boats which made things very difficult for us,"said Dickinson, who opted to sail yesterday with the lighter crew member M'Kai Hodsoll onboard.

"That definitely slowed us up a lot. But I knew Rudy was going to be fast today because he was 30 lbs lighter than everybody else and in that light stuff he is fast."

Class president Lambert and crew of 24 years Gregg Proctor also fancied his chances working the shifts in shallower waters.

"I thought Stevie and I picked the right way. We chose to go inside while others headed out," he said.

"But afterwards things changed with the spectator boats moving all around us. Everyone went along the shores and that hampered our ability to keep pace with the boats sailing offshore."