Veteran Etchells sailor and former National champion and current Canadian champion, Tim Patton, managed to squeeze ahead of up-and-coming skipper Lance Fraser to take the title during Saturday's Bacardi National Keelboat Championships.

Patton and his crew finished with 14 points – just a single point ahead of teenage Fraser and crew which was composed of Catalina Sposato, Jason and Jordan Jordan Saints who are all graduates of Bermuda's Optimist sailing programme.

In third place was Will Thompson and his crew.

Some 25 keelboats from the J-105, Etchells and International One Design (IOD) classes hit the water Saturday morning with the intent of completing the five races on the Great Sound to ultimately crown the Bacardi National Keelboat Champions in the three classes.

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club race officer Jay Hooper and his team were constantly tested with winds shifting as much as 80 degrees between south east and south west throughout the day and the sailors experienced all types of wind conditions ranging from 10 knots to the mid 20s. The highest wind conditions were seen during the fourth race in the middle of a "whiteout" rain squall. A number of boats, slightly worse for wear, elected to retire before the fifth and final race.

The hotly-contested J-105 class saw five boats on the line with Jon Corless and his crew sailing Mayhem showing the most consistent form with four first-place finishes and a second, posting a total of six points.

Former Olympic Tornado sailor Glenn Astwood sailing Ockham's Razor and James Macdonald in Passion battled it out for second place with Astwood prevailing with 13 points.

The IOD's had 10 boats on the course. Former multiple World and National IOD champion Eugene (Penny) Simmons sailing Ariel clinched the championship with four first-place finishes and one fifth place for a total of nine points.

Patrick Cooper and crew sailed Solna II consistently and was one point behind in second. Craig Davis and crew finished third sailing Vrengen on 14 points.