Stevie Dickinson would dearly love to claim a record 12th win in the 56th annual long distance comet race on Sunday...not for himself but for the man whose death shocked the comet class last year.

As fate would have it, Dickinson tied Alton Millett's record 11 wins in Millett's own boat Kitty Hawk just four months before Millett died last October.

Soon after he worked out a deal with Millett's son, Steve, to purchase Kitty Hawk and now as a tribute to the man he called his mentor, Dickinson wants the record.

So close were the pair that Dickinson spoke at Millett's funeral, revealing how Millett had had a great impact on his sailing as a youngster.

"I'm planning on having Millett's picture on the stern of the boat, so his spirit will be there anyway,'' said Dickinson in the build-up to the race which has been brought forward from the traditional Queen's Birthday holiday so as not to clash with the Tall Ships festivities.

As a St. Georgian, winning in St. George's Harbour is special for Dickinson.

He first sailed as a skipper as a 14-year-old, missed the next year because the wind was too high and then came back as a 16-year-old in only his second race to claim his first win.

This year marks Dickinson's 25th race (he missed another year to sail in fitted dinghies) and another victory would put him at about a win every other year, which is a good strike rate by anybody's standards.

"This year I've been very, very relaxed,'' said the veteran who turned 40 recently.

"I feel good just tying the record but if another win comes then I'll take it. I know the boat is sailing quite fast so I don't have any worries about how the boat will perform. On the day I think it will be how I perform. "It's nothing like coming home, the only thing bothering me about going to Somerset is turning around and coming all the way back, especially if you don't win.'' As another mark of respect for Millett, Dickinson has left the boat just as it was under the former owner.

"The same way Millett had it rigged is the same way I will sail it,'' Dickinson promised.

"His son and I worked out a deal to buy the boat, so it's in my hands now. It feels really good and I think that was definitely what he wanted, that I take hold of the boat and take care of it. The boat is 14, 15 years old and is in excellent condition.'' While most of the expectations centre around a Dickinson-Rudy Bailey duel, Dickinson says any number of sailors are capable of pulling off victory, including last year's runner up Gladwin Lambert.

"Anybody out there who is capable of sailing and sailing well, like `Bobsy' (Byron McCallan), Gladwin Lambert, Colin Clarke and Scott Fox, can win it,'' said Dickinson.

"If they know how to sail then I have the utmost respect for them. If I'm really good on that day then they have to beat me, but if I'm not good then I have to fight to beat them.

"I don't pay attention to one particular sailor. Whoever is right next to me that's who I focus on.'' The race starts in St. George's at 11.00 a.m. with a large fleet of pleasure boats expected to accompany the fleet along the North Shore to the finish line.

Stevie Dickinson: bidding for a record 12th victory.