Over the years, veteran sailor Paul Hubbard has had his fair share of spills and thrills onboard Bermuda Oyster.

In this year's Newport to Bermuda Race, it was the latter that prevailed as Hubbard and crew (Jeff Roach, Richard Hosker, Craig Scott, Neil Redburn, Mike Gladwin and David Mello) won the Cruiser Division.

Bermuda Oyster covered the 635 nautical mile crossing in a corrected time of 81 hours, –38 minutes and 51 seconds to become the only local yacht in this year's ocean race to win their division.

And come tomorrow Hubbard and crew will cement their outstanding accomplishment when they raise the Carleton Mitchell Finisterre Trophy at Government House during the Newport to Bermuda prize ceremony.

For 64-year-old Hubbard, this week's triumph ended a quest for top honours that began decades ago.

"It was a team effort but also very pleasing for me because I have been doing this race since 1984," said Hubbard, who is still recovering from a back injury he suffered after falling off his Oyster 435 on dry dock last year.

"It was a pleasing result, but it was really the crew. I'm just the poor, bloody owner.

"I'm getting too old to sit up on the wheel at night getting soaking wet in freezing cold. And so I had David (Mello) and Michael (Gladwin), who have sailed with me forever.

"They are absolute solid guys; I had a really good crew, and that's what counts."

And so did Hubbard's race tactics which saw him steer 30 miles west of the rhumbline where he caught a favourable eddy.

"The trick of this race is to cross the Gulf Stream and try and pick up the favourable currents without going far off the rhumbline," he explained.

"This year the wind held all the way in but you had to go west this time because the forecast said it was really going to clock around on the nose more.

"The wind was on the nose all the way."

Hubbard's success capped off a memorable week for local yachts as Colin Couper's Babe was the first Class Three boat to cross the finish.

Meanwhile, Peter Rebovich's dominance in the race contiuned this year after the American sailor was declared winner of the coveted St. David's Lighthouse Division.

Picking up where he left off in the centennial race two years' ago, Rebovich's Cal 40, Sin Fein, beat out all Class One rivals and becomes the first yacht to win the newly created North Rock Beacon Trophy.

The trophy is awarded to the winner on corrected time among all 122 IRC-rated boats in the combined St. David's and Gibb's Hill Lighthouse Divisions.

Sin Fein covered the race course in a corrected time of 61 hours, six minutes and 38 seconds and was followed in her division by Selkie (63 hours, ten minutes and 18 seconds) and Emily (63 hours, 23 minutes and 48 seconds) in second and third respectively.

Victory, however, came at a cost for Rebovich and his crew (Gary Gochal, Henry Henning, Peter Rebovich Jr, Mark Rebovich, Kelly Robinson and Foster Tallman) who were plagued by mechanical problems en route to Bermuda.

"We lost our electronics when we swamped the computer and lost use of our satellite phone.

"We could navigate, but we couldn't communicate," Rebovich explained.

Rebovich described this year's upwind race as "one of the most difficult" and praised the fine seamanship demonstrated by an all-amateur crew who have accumulated multiple Newport to Bermuda class and divisional titles in the past.

"This is the best crew in the race without a doubt," he added.

There was also jubilation onboard Julian Dougherty's Tenacious – the smallest yacht in her division – which won the Gibb's Hill Lighthouse Division on a corrected time of 56 hours, 53 minutes and 20 seconds. Second place honours went to Sirensong while Aquarius finished third.

Earlier this week Alex Jackson's 99 foot super-maxi, Speedboat, was the first yacht to finish this year's race while Buddy Rego's JV 66, Defiance, led the local fleet.

The Newport to Bermuda Race was founded by Thomas Fleming Day and the Rudder magazine in 1906.

After a period of inactivity from 1911-12, it was revived in 1923 by Herbert Stone and Yachting magazine.

A total of seven local yachts competed in this year's event which saw 194 boats overall make the journey across the Atlantic from the US East Coast.

In 2002, Roy Disney's Pyewacket recorded the fastest race (53 hours, 39 minutes and 22 seconds) sailing at an average of 11.8 knots.