Veteran IOD skipper Bill Widnall found light at the end of the tunnel as 2007 International Race Week drew to a close in yesterday’s light air conditions on the Great Sound.

With the ‘B’ Series title still up for grabs in yesterday’s final race, the 69-year-old retired college professor and aerospace engineer worked the shifts to his advantage to claim both line and overall honours after being held against his will at the start line by an aggressive John Burnham.

“He (Burnham) ignored all of the other boats and tried to ruin our start. He succeeded in holding us back from making an excellent start but because the air was light and shifty we had opportunities to break away from him and get a better angle of wind and pass him,” explained the nine-time world champion.

Burnham had executed the same match race tactic earlier in the week en route to clinching the ‘A’ Series. But yesterday Widnall would not be denied.

After breaking free of Burnham’s cover at the start line, Widnall got a good jump on most of the fleet heading to the first windward mark. Then fate intervened as two port side boats tacked across Burnham’s bow and conspired to ruin his day.

“He was in front covering us and he would’ve liked to have continued doing that the whole race. But when two port tack boats started coming across his bow at that point I quickly tacked and he couldn’t because if he did tack below those two boats they would’ve been right on his air and he would’ve been dead,” Widnall said.

“He had to keep going straight on starboard while we were sailing on port and that gave us a good amount of separation and it turned out we had slightly better wind off to the right.

“So I picked the right moment to break away from him when he couldn’t tack and I think we were able to go from last to third by the first mark.”

Widnall then protected his lead throughout the remainder of the race to savour victory with Burnham forced to settle for second place honours overall ahead of Sweden’s Urban Ristorp who rounded off the top three finishers in the IODs.

Yesterday’s weather conditions were a far cry from what sailors had experienced earlier in the week. But even in gentle breezes Widnall managed to generate good boat speed.

“The wind conditions were not as steady as they were the other day. They were very light and variable so there were more chances to get some good shifts and some good luck breaks to get back in the game,” he added.

The veteran skipper had nothing but praise for his crew.

“My crew (wife Sheila, Richard Johnson, Rick Echard and Joshua Migliazzo) really did an excellent job this week,” Widnall said.

Also victorious was Bermuda’s Peter Bromby (Etchells) and Allan Williams (J-105s) while England’s Stuart Jardine claimed overall J-24 honours.

Bromby celebrated a sixth KF Trimingham Trophy in seven years along with crew Andreas Lewin with the latter’s sister, Paula Lewin, finishing second and veteran Tim Patton third overall.

Jon Corless and Jaimie Lewis placed second and third in the J-105s behind Williams with Trevor Boyce and Pete Ramsdale taking second and third place respectively in the J-24s.