Bermudian sailor Rudy Bailey experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat at last week's Comet International Championships in Cambridge, Maryland.

Bailey initially thought he had won the regatta after overhauling eventual winner Elliott Oldak in the seventh and deciding race.

However, his joy soon turned to despair as the race protest committee upheld Oldak's appeal for redress points after his boat was damaged in a collision with Bermuda's Howard Simmons prior to the official start of the final race.

The American, sailing on starboard, is alleged to have rammed Simmons' bow while the latter was luffing and was subsequently awarded –2.7 points which enabled him to pip Bailey by a mere .3 points and go on to claim top honours.

However, Bailey is contemplating filing a counter appeal against the protest committee's ruling, a ruling which he feels was made "unfairly".

Heading into the final race the Bermudian needed to beat Oldak by at least one boat and proved more than equal to the task as he managed to finish four boats ahead of his American counterpart - only to be later undone by a ruling made behind closed doors.

"This is unbelieveable and feels worse than having my prostate checked. I have never been so hurt in my life; I got snubbed royally," Bailey argued. "Hopefully I can appeal against this redress issue because I wasn't even involved in the collision.

"I got snubbed because I won the regatta. He (Oldak) only protested because I beat him in the last race.

"He got a sixth and I got a second and I had to beat him by one boat in order to win the regatta.

"I won the regatta because I beat this guy by more than one boat (in the final race) but ended up coming second because of some craziness!

"He protested and they (protest committee) swallowed it up."

Simmons, who finished 14th overall in the 22-boat fleet, was also left in a state of shock after learning of the final ruling which put paid to Bailey's victory hopes.

"I have never seen anything like this before and I think they (protest committee) gave him (Oldak) too many redress points," he argued.

The race protest committee's final ruling was based upon Oldak's performances in the previous six races, which included three bullets, while despite managing four podium finishes Bailey had to settle for runners up accolades.

n Home town favourites Gladwn Lambert and Greg Proctor dominated Comet racing in the Great Sound last weekend on the way to triumphantly raising the Matthew's Cup.

Sailing onboard Melody, Lambert claimed his third title of the season by a considerably wide margin ahead of second- placed Quinton Simmons and crew Howard Simmons, while third place honours went to Mid Atlantic Boat Club pair Anthony Smith and Tre Johnville respectively.