Contest III claimed bragging rights during the Bermuda Fitted Dinghy season opener held in St George’s Harbour last weekend.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club team, led by skipper Joshua Greenslade, produced a 1-2-3 record to finish as the day’s overall winner.

There was a tie for second between the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club’s Elizabeth II and Sandys Boat Club’s Challenger II, while Victory IV, representing regatta hosts St George’s Dinghy and Sports Club, brought up the rear among the four-boat fleet.

Contest III won the opening race for the Heritage Trophy with Challenger II taking second, Victory IV third while Elizabeth II finished fourth after leading on the first beat.

Elizabeth II came roaring back in the day’s second race in which they led from start to finish to capture the Anniversary Cup. Contest III crossed the line in the second followed by Victory IV in third while Challenger II sank on the downwind run.

Challenger II immediately bounced back in style during the day’s third and final race for the Leon D Fox Cup, pipping Elizabeth II at the finish line in one the closest finishes in recent memory before sinking.

Victory IV sank approaching the finish line, enabling Contest III to take the third and ultimately overall bragging rights.

The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club are the holders of the Coronation Cup awarded to the winners of the overall season series.

The 2019 Bermuda Fitted Dinghy season schedule consists of eight races and concludes in early September.

The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club will host the next regatta on Sunday at Granaway Deep where the BAA Cup, WH Bennett Memorial Trophy and Spithead Trophy will be up for grabs.

The Bermuda Fitted Dinghy is a type of racing dedicated sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Although the class has only existed for about 130 years, the boats are a continuance of a tradition of boat and ship design in Bermuda that stretches back to the earliest decades of the Seventeenth century.