long distance comet race.

Owned by now retired record holder Elton Millett and sailed the last few years by comet king Stevie Dickinson since his boat Scorpion was shipped to the United States, Kitty Hawk will likely to do with Dickinson what she did with Millett -- accomplish the record of most wins in the comet class' most popular race.

Millett's record stands at 11 -- the last of which was achieved in 1983 when he crossed Dickinson in St. George's Harbour.

However, Dickinson is closing in quickly, having notched his 10th victory in the 51st race on Monday when he and crew Heath Foggo sailed Kitty Hawk to a comfortable win in the race which finished in St. George's Harbour.

The triumph, the third for Dickinson in four years -- having been denied a third straight victory last year by Rudy Bailey and brother George -- means that in the next couple of years Dickinson could become the most successful competitor in this popular race.

Millett, also of the East End Mini Yacht Club, achieved his record in St.

George's and Dickinson would also love to establish the new record in front of a home crowd.

In the last few years the race has been won by either Dickinson or Bailey, of the West End Sailboat Club, and Bailey probably holds the key in determining how long Dickinson will have to wait for the record.

"Even with Rudy I'm going to break the record,'' promised Dickinson yesterday. At age 35 he definitely has time on his side.

"I can sail 'till I'm 60, with the grace of God,'' said Dickinson.

Dickinson, determined to avenge last year's loss to Bailey which denied him a first hat-trick of wins, led the race from start to finish with Bailey, winner five times between 1986 and last year, following about 100 yards behind as both skippers took a course further offshore.

"I thought I sailed quite smart from the start,'' said the champion. "We got a really good start and kept Bailey on the outside of me to keep an eye on him.

"I just prepared myself a lot better and was more determined. Heath and I decided that if we were going to do well then we had to practise.'' Dickinson gives Foggo, his eighth crew since he began sailing in the long distance race as a 14-year-old, much credit for his victory. The pair have been sailing different types of boats together for the last three years.

Dickinson won the race for the first time at age 16 and over the years has sailed with brothers Stuart and Wesley Tucker, his cousins, William Bassett, Carlos Greaves, Richard (Blimp) Brangman, Steve Millett and Scott Fox.

"Heath is improving all the time,'' Dickinson confirmed. "In a year or two he could be where he gets to Wesley's standard. It's only a matter of time.

"I would really like to compliment Heath on a fanstastic job. He made my job quite easy. I pulled a few lines but he pulled the rest. I think we're going to be sailing together for a long time, we're the best of buddies, we're both in the church and now we can't go wrong.'' Dickinson completed the course in two hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds, about a minute and a half ahead of Byron McCallan and Wesley Tucker in second place.

Defending champion Bailey finished third.

"For the longest time Rudy was second and he started to make his move off Bailey's Bay and I moved with him to keep him inside to protect my position,'' explained Dickinson.

"It got real choppy off Bailey's Bay with boats trying to get ahead of the fleet and I guess he (Bailey) couldn't handle the sea. He was about 80 yards behind me and when I looked again he was 300 yards behind me.

"We had a game plan from the start and we led from the outset. When I'm racing in that race my focus is on winning, not who I'm racing against.'' Dickinson added: "Before the race I think about everybody because everybody's got talent in the class, not just Rudy Bailey. He's a good sailor but I think overall I've got the edge on him.'' Dickinson had the race sewn up by the time he reached the Channel though he slowed up enough to allow McCallan to close the gap.

"We had a lot of trouble going through the Channel because a few (pleasure) boats wanted to stay with the lead boats and they were blocking out the wind,'' explained Dickinson.

"We would have won the race by a better time if we didn't have the trouble we had going through the Channel.''