Despite finishing three hours behind Alexia in the Newport-Bermuda Race, the Larry Ellison-owned yacht clinched the Maxi World Championship on Tuesday.

Sayonara was, according to many observers, the fastest boat in the fleet and showed it during the series of World Championship races that preceded the 635-mile trip.

She led the four others maxis -- Alexia , Morning Glory , Rima and Boomerang -- after five days of inshore racing off Newport and had to finish better than third in the big race in order to claim the title.

The ILC/IMS 70 arrived just before 1.00 p.m. on Tuesday, about three hours behind Alexia .

"It was a slow, slow race,'' said veteran crew Joey Allen of New Zealand.

"We were behind the whole time and never caught up. We were out there a long time.'' Like the other four, Sayonara is big, new, frighteningly fast and stocked with some of the world's top sailors.

She was skippered by America's Cup veteran Chris Dickson of New Zealand and carried a veteran crew of 24 Americans and Kiwis.

In addition to Ellison, Allen and Dickson, they were: Tomasso Chieffi, Morgan Larson, Ian Burns, TA McCann, Robert Astudillo, Brad Butterworth, David Ellison, Bill Erkeiens, Rock Ferigno, Mike Herlihy, Mike Howard, Paul Larkin, Vic McQuaide, Robbie Naismith, Greg Prussia, Tony Rae, Robert Shaw, Mark Turner, Alex Wadson, Steve Wilson, Bob Wylie.

Morning Glory and Boomerang both had difficulties in the early part of the championships.

The former lost skipper Russ Coutts when the America's Cup champion was forced out because of illness. Owner Hasso Plattner had a crew of 21, including Alex Rhys, navigator Tom Schnackenberg and Olympic medallist Craig Monk. Coutts is well known to the Island's sailing fraternity because of his annual appearance in the Bermuda Gold Cup.

As for Boomerang , she suffered mast damage in the opening races of the World Championship and never got on track.

SAYONARA, BABY -- Larry Ellison's maxi Sayonara , her crew sitting at the side, departs Rhode Island during last Friday's start of the Newport-Bermuda Race.