Stephen Sherwin is proud of his boat and crew’s performance in the 53rd Newport Bermuda Race.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club helmsman finished fourth among the thirteen boats in his class, 46th in the overall St David’s Lighthouse Division and 31st among monohull yachts in an elapsed time of three days 9hr 32min 56sec.

“It was a good safe trip for us,” Sherwin told The Royal Gazette. It was relentless in some respects in that we came down pretty much tight reach most of the way after the slow start.

“It's pretty uncomfortable when you don't get any kind of break for the time it took us to get down. It's pretty tough on the boat and tough on the crew.

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“It’s just in a sense what you would expect, but you always hope for something that will level the boat out a bit and allow us to put a chute up.

“I am getting on a bit now so I find them a bit tougher. But having said that, it's always a sense of achievement and you always forget the discomfort at the end of the day.”

Sherwin was in contention for a podium finish in his class before narrowly missing out.

“We ended up in fourth, which is just fine,” he said.

“We were not unhappy with our result in any way at all. There were at least four or five boats that could have hammered us to be quite honest just because of the boats they were. So I was happy to get a fourth place and thought that was really lucky.

“We tried our hardest but it was a tough one against some of the opposition, which is just how it has to be and is part of the game.”

The experienced sailor was making his thirteenth appearance in the 635-mile race and was accompanied on his Corby 41 by crew Alex Adelsberg, Meghan Sherwin, Ian Feathers, Jeremy Asson, Paul Reilly, Tiarnan Brown and Gary Ince.

“I had some terrific crew with two younger people, my daughter Meghan and Tiarnan Brown, who is an excellent sailor,” said Sherwin, whose boat crossed the finish line at 12:26am on Tuesday.

“It was a wonderful experience having my daughter, my very good friends and Tiarnan, who we didn't know until he was onboard and was just wonderful.

“Jeremy [Asson], my good friend who navigates, did an absolutely wonderful job with the Gulf Stream this time.”

At the age of 69, Sherwin suggested this year might his last competing in the biennial event as he ponders retirement.

“It’s a wonderful race and I might do another one, but it’s quite unlikely to be honest,” he added. “It's tough and I am getting a bit philosophical about it these days.

“I think I am still fit enough but you take the blows with the constant changing of watch. It's a bit of a struggle and in a couple of years I might be doing a few more other things I am interested in.”

Sherwin was one two local helmsman competing in the St David’s Lighthouse Division along with St George’s Dinghy and Sports Club helmsman Brian Hillier, who was forced to abandon the race after suffering damage to the steering on his J-125, Crossfire.

Hillier and crew Ruairi Brown, Michael Wollmann, Peter Dill, Chris Adderley, William Thompson and Jason Owen were not injured and travelled the rest of the way with their boat’s engine switched on.

Roy Disney’s Volvo 70 Mod, Pyewacket 70, was the first boat to complete the race in 59hr 17min 35sec, crossing the finish off St David’s at 1.37am on Monday morning.

Claiming line honours in the multihull division was Adrian Keller’s catamaran Allegra in 61hr 31min 30sec after crossing the finish line at 3.41am the same day.

Rives Potts’ McCurdy & Rhodes Carina won the St David’s Lighthouse Division for the fourth time on corrected time while Andy Berdon’s JV 52 Summer Storm captured the Gibbs Hill Division.

Frank Sobchak’s sloop Northeast Wind claimed honours in the Finisterre Division while Phil Haydon’s Sunfast 3300 Fearless won class and the overall Doublehanded Division.