The expression on Peter Bromby's face shown in the image below perhaps best summed up his unbridled joy after capturing a third overall Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta in Miami yesterday.

The former Olympic sailor led going into the final race needing only to stay ahead of nearest rival Mark Mendelblatt or finish among the top six boats in order to win the world-class regatta.

Yet rather than take a more conservative approach, Bromby and crew Magnus Liljedahl of Sweden opted for the dramatic and scored a second bullet of the week to finish ahead of Americas Cup tactician and past Bacardi Cup winner Mendelblatt and clinch the title in style.

American Mendelblatt finished second overall and was followed by fellow countryman Rick Merriman in third while rounding out the top five were Switzerland's Flavio Marazzi and Paul Cayard of the US.

Bromby, who won a first Bacardi Cup in 2001 and a second two years' later, grabbed the overall lead from USA Star Class champion George Szabo and crew Rick Peters earlier in the week.

He took an early lead yesterday on the left side of the course after exploding off the start, but rounded the fourth mark second behind seven-time champion Mark Reynolds of the United States, sailing this week with crew Hal Haenel.

Bromby regained the lead on the final leg and never looked back.

"Every time we needed some extra horsepower, we seemed to find it today," Bromby said.

"We were keeping an eye on (Mendelblatt). If he would have taken control of us, things would have been very different today. He became public enemy number one, and our strategy was to cover him throughout the race."

This week saw more than 60 teams representing 15 countries compete in the 82nd Bacardi Cup Star Class Regatta, rated among among the most competitve Star Class events in the world.

Bromby's latest success comes fresh on the heels of Government's decision to slash Bermuda Sailing Association's (BSA) annual budget by as much as $140,000, thus forcing sailing's governing body to consider scrapping their National Sailing Programme which has existed for over half a century.

Bromby, who narrowly missed out on medalling at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, publicly slammed Government for their decision to scale back funding for a sailing programme of which he is a graduate prior to heading off to Miami.

But on the back of his most recent conquest, there are those such as veteran sailor Glenn Astwood who remain optimistic Government will "see the error of their ways" and reconsider their decision that prompted public outcry late last month.

"It's unfortunate Government have cut back on funding for the junior programme because Bermuda generally do well in sailing," he said. "But with Peter's success hopefully Government will take notice and see the error of his their ways."

The National Sailing Programme was established as a Government programme that helped launch the sailing careers of thousands of young Bermudians at lower costs than the asking rate at private clubs.

"This programme has done too much good to die at the whim of a politician," said Etchells sailor Alan Frith, who is also a product of the programme. "If the National Sailing Programme wasn't performing up to the standard or wasn't providing an actual benefit to Bermuda's youth then I could understand the Government's decision to cut its budget, but this simply isn't the case."

BSA programme director, Deb Gravelle, believes scrapping the programme would do a great disservice to the sport of sailing in Bermuda.

"It would be a great shame for Bermuda if this programme were to be cancelled," she said. "The National Sailing Programme has produced one of the Island's best sailors, Peter Bromby, who has represented Bermuda four times in the Olympics. The long-term effect of cancelling the National Sailing Programme would be significant."