Bermuda finished a respectable sixth overall after the inaugural New York Yacht Club invitational Cup finished over the weekend.

Going into Saturday's last two races in seventh, skipper Mark Watson and the crew of Tiburon had finishes of 12 and ninth to end on 95 points, 15 points behind Royal Cork in fifth.

The cup was won by the home team who, despite only winning one of the 11 races of the week's racing, triumphed because they finished in the top three on seven occasions, and never finished lower than tenth.

Victory was far from simple for Phil Lotz and crew, even though they wound up with 11 points on their closest overall competitor, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club with Terry McLaughlin skippering.

The Canadians finished second in the first race on Saturday, and won the second race by a "nautical mile," but Lotz and crew still had the finish positions (3-2) to win.

"We used tactician Ken Read's (Newport, R.I.) patience in picking wind shifts and the crew's flawless execution of maneuvers. They were key to the day and were the two things that got us through the regatta," said Lotz, whose teammates also included his wife Wendy, two sons Chris (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Doug (Columbus Ohio), Blake Kimbrough (Newport R.I.), Byron LaMotte (New York, N.Y.), Tripp Dolman (New York, N.Y.), Rick Merriman (New York, N.Y.), Stuart Streuli (Newport, R.I.) and Brendan Marshall (Newport, R.I.).

Only one Category 3 (or professional) sailor was allowed per team, and Ken Read, most recently credited for his Volvo Ocean Race success, was it for the NYYC team. Read, a NYYC member, was humbled, however, by the equanimity of his teammates. "Lord knows these guys I'm sailing with can get around the track without me," said Read, pointing out that Rick Merriman, a three-time All American from Navy, is part of the "speed loop" with Lotz that keeps the boat going while allowing Read the luxury of solely focusing on tactics.

"Before every regatta you circle what you think are the top five teams, and there is not a surprise in this top-five group at all," said Read. Canada finished second, the Japan Sailing Federation third, Finland's Nylandska Jaktklubben fourth and Royal Cork Yacht Club fifth.

"I hadn't thought about if before now, but we really didn't miss a set, a takedown, a tack or whatever over the four days of racing," said Lotz at the end of the regatta. "There was no maneuver that didn't go reasonably well if not perfect. As for Canada, they did great; we were just lucky enough to still be close enough to them to win."

With the Canadian team easily maintaining their second-place position from Friday, it was the Japan Sailing Federation that perhaps fought hardest to stay in third overall. "The points were very close, and we had a chance to get second, but the shifts made it difficult," said tactician Eiichiro Hamasaki. "In the last race it was mainly in my mind to keep third."

Finland's Nylandska Jaktklubben team was skippered by Leonardo Ferragamo, head of Nautor's Swan. However on Saturday tactician Kenneth Thelen took the helm. In the first race with only a quarter of a leg to go, Finland and Canada were running neck-and-neck but Finland crossed the finish line first.

As for the Royal Cork Yacht Club's performance, skipper Anthony O'Leary said, "If you had offered us fifth place on the airplane over here, we'd have taken it, because that's pretty respectable in this fleet."