Comet sailor Stevie Dickinson triumphantly raised a fourth Lawrence (Stickers) Hendrickson Memorial title in five years sailing with teenaged crew Martin Finigan in near perfect racing conditions on the North Shore last weekend.

On a day which saw a fierce three-way battle for top honours go right down to the wire, Dickinson eventually pipped West End Sail Boat rivals Rudy Bailey and Gladwin Lambert to reclaim one of the Comet class's most coveted showpieces.

And the East End Sail Boat Club stalwart achieved victory the hard way; clawing his way back into contention after being forced across the start line prematurely in the first race and surrendering the lead in the second after leading two legs before eventually bouncing back with successive bullets in the final two races to claim bragging rights for the day.

To illustrate just how marginal last Sunday's racing was, only two -points separated Dickinson (four) from runners up Bailey (five) and third placed Lambert (six) who currently leads the overall season points standings.

"It was some very tight competition out there; going into the final race everything was still wide open between Rudy, Gladwin and myself and so I had to win it," Dickinson said. "Martin was fantastic . . . that boy is hot! He did a marvellous job."

Dickinson was slow out of the starting blocks after two errors cost him valuable ground in the opening two races.

"You get those days when you make little mistakes here and there but you have to learn how to be consistent and aggressive to be able to bounce back," he said.

And Dickinson and Finigan did just that by finishing off strongly with back-to-back bullets to stave off perennial rivals Bailey and Lambert at the death.

"We just had to buckle down, sail hard, play the shifts as much as we could and eventually we came out on top," Dickinson said.

Others posting bullets on Sunday were Bailey and young crew Anthony Bailey Jr and Lambert and crew Greg Proctor who missed the opening race after showing up late for the start.

"I wasn't there for the first race; I was late waiting for other skippers. So I had to dig in and actually beat Stevie and Rudy in a close battle to win the second race," former Somerset Trojans footballer Lambert said. "The three of us were close the whole way, but I managed to hold off their challenges."

Lambert followed up with a second and a third in the final two races that enabled him to stretch his overall lead in the fleet points standings with two more regattas remaining in the 2008 schedule.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Ben Smith (green fleet), Ceci Wollman (intermediate fleet) and Dimitri Stevens (advanced fleet) claimed top honours in the Optimist class during Sandy's Boat Club's Fall Regatta in the Great Sound.

Others enjoying success were Sarah Hopkin who was victorious in the Byte fleet and past World Sunfish champion Malcolm Smith who dominated in the Lasers.