Comet king Rudy Bailey issued a stern warning to his rivals after comfortably sailing away with the Francis Powell Shield in the Great Sound on Sunday.

Showing few signs of winter rust, the defending Long Distance Race champion and crew Sinclair Simmons successfully guided Temptation to three consecutive first place finishes to lay claim to the top prize.

Last year Bailey captured the coveted International Race Week and Long Distance Race titles and placed second in the International Comet Championships held in Stone Harbour, New Jersey.

Veteran rival Howard Lee placed second on Sunday onboard High Yella while Gladwin Lambert in Melody finished third.

"That's how I like to start the new season," said Bailey. "It's just nice to get back to sailing. I really just wanted to sail. Everybody was a bit rusty but we were all very close - first place doesn't always reflect how close the races really were."

Having reaped immediate success, Bailey is now looking ahead to the upcoming April 27 Mid Winter Comet Regatta off Dockyard where he's expected to take on the sport's other 'heavyweight' Stevie Dickinson.

"That will be the next big race for us," added Bailey. "And we will be ready for the 27th. It's always nice to have everyone out there competing. I think that Stevie will also be ready. He beat me in just about every other event last year except the Long Distance Race. So it should be very interesting."

However, after capturing the Francis Powell Shield, Bailey then had to settle for second place in the Matthew Cup as Lee upstaged his stablemate in a battle to the finish.

Antoine Wingood, sailing My New Mary, finished third.

"We battled away during the whole race. It was all touch and go," commented Lee, who has over 55 years of sailing experience under his belt.

"It was a very close race where I was out in front for a while before he (Bailey) caught up with me.

"I had my grandson (Rochal Evans) sailing with me and we were able to get into a fairly good early rhythm. We had a very short tacking duel over the last part of the race - a tack for tack sort of thing. But in the end I was able to cover him (Bailey)."