Richard Shulman?s claimed the IMS North American Championship after rounding up a long week of sailing by taking top spot in the Onion Patch Series.

The seven-race series, which included the Newport-Bermuda Race and Friday?s Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta, finished on Friday with Shulman taking home the Henry B. du Pont Trophy.

Lawrence Dickie?s was ahead going into the 635-mile ocean crossing from Newport, which saw the final boats come in on Thursday, but picked up a place in the long race and then cemented that with five points in the final two races on Friday.

?Going for the IMS North American Championship was a real incentive for the crew,? said Shulman. ?We were sailing against a wide range of boats in the series, under a wide range of courses and conditions. Winning this was a real challenge and we are proud of the accomplishment.?

Friday?s racing around the Great Sound was a culmination of a great week which had seen the Newport-Bermuda crossing completed in an unprecedented 48 hours by Bermudian resident Hasso Plattner aboard .

In the morning?s four-leg windward-leeward race, a range of Newport-Bermuda and local yachts competed in about eight knots of breeze in flat water while during the afternoon, the breeze freshened to 12-14 knot for the race sailed in a new ?steeplechase? format that took the yachts on a tour of all the deep water in the Great Sound, Granaway Deep and Royal Bay.

The yachts finished with a spinnaker run from the Sound through Two Rocks Passage and down to the line at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

Shulman also led Storm Trysail Red, the winning three-boat team, to take the Onion Patch Trophy with team-mates Bob Towse on which scored sixth in the series and.

?Team sailing is not something you do often and it develops bonds with sailors you usually compete against,? added Shulman.

?Your team-mate is your competition for individual honours, but your friend in the team competition. It is a fine line. You want him to sail fast but not as fast as you.?