The friendly skies are now the limit for promising Comet skipper Anthony Smith who stormed to a resounding victory last weekend in the Great Sound.

Smith, who attended the Florida Air Academy, posted three bullets before capturing a first major title (Tourist Trap Cup) as a skipper with crew Zane Hendrickson onboard.

The son of Mid Atlantic Boat Club vice-comodore and former North Village goalie George Hayward won the first race of the three-race series convincingly and then withtstood fierce challenges from West End Sail Boat rivals Antione Wingood and Quinton Simons to keep his impressive unbeaten streak intact.

And having now experienced the thrills of victory and savoured the sweet taste of success, Smith, 32, is determined to use his recent breakthrough performance as a springboard to go onto bigger and better things in the sport.

"I have a strong desire to keep improving and moving forward and one of my goals is to add my name to the long list of Edward Cross Cup winners. That is something that I really want to aspire to," said Smith.

The married father of one has made steady progress since purchasing his own boat a few years ago, with the many hours of practice and pointers from senior skippers now seemingly paying dividends.

"This is something (win) that I had been waiting on for a long time and it's definitely encouraging to get a first win under my belt," he said. "You can only get out what you put in and I have been putting a lot of time into my sailing and listening to sailors who have more experience than I do. And there is a host of names I can call, but I really credit my father (Hayward) above all for introducing me to the sport.

"I try to get out on the water as much as possible and even when there is no regatta you can still find me working on the boat making sure everything is in tip top shape."

Some could consider Smith a late bloomer having only taken to the sport seriously in his early twenties. But this hasn't discouraged the Mid Atlantic skipper in the least.

"I've only been sailing seriously for the last ten years or so. . . . I caught the sailing fever when I returned from school and ended up buying my own boat. I used to sail with my father as crew for a few years before going abroad to attend school," he said.

During studies at the Florida Air Academy Smith had the wonderful opportunity to enrol in an aviation course and take to the skies.

"I was very fortunate to go there and do a few flight courses that enable you to acquire a private pilot licence and complete a few lessons where the instructors would take you up and give you the controls momentarily," he explained.

"I was given that opportunity by my parents and took it with both hands. There were certain tasks we had to complete such as navigating and making turns to get used to flying a plane, which was my main objective because I was really fascinated with flying and wanted to get the experience to try it."

In his quest to gain an edge over the rest of the fleet, Smith is now applying some of the knowledge gained at higher altitudes on the surf.

"The air that flows over the sail is similar to the wind flowing along the wing of a plane and a lot can be applied from having knowledge about planes and knowing how to handle them in respect to a sail," he said.

"So the similar aspect to it is that the sail can be compared to the wing of a plane because they are both based on the same principles."

• Meanwhile, Olympic skipper Paula Lewin, Jon Corless and Patrick Cooper were the big winners during the Bacardi Keelboat National Championhips.

Lewin lifted the Etchells trophy along with crew Leatrice Roman and Deb Gravelle onboard, with Corless and crew Craig Scott, Walter Smith, Earl Campbell and Jody Thompson taking top honors in the J -105s.

Cooper made it a family affair in the IOD division, sailing to victory with father Andrew, sister Carola and friend Martin Brewer as crew.