Benn Smith is confident he can defend his title among one of the largest and most competitive fleets in recent memory in the 79th Edward Cross Long Distance Comet Race on Monday.

The 23-year-old won the prestigious race for the first time as helmsman last year competing alongside cousin Christian Ebbin and is hoping for similar success this time around in conditions he believes will work in his favour.

“I’m very excited to be able to defend my title for the Edward Cross Long Distance Race,” Smith told The Royal Gazette.

“This year it’ll be starting from West End Sail Boat Club, which will make the start of the race very important as we will not be going through St George’s Town Cut until near the end of the race.

“I think this will play to my advantage as I think I proved last year that I had great boat speed on a reaching angle, especially once in the hiking strap and pushing to surf the waves.

“The forecast looks like it’ll be out of the south at about 12 to 15 knots, so downwind and reaching boat speed will play the biggest part of who comes out ahead. I felt confident last year in those angles, so hopefully it’ll play to my strengths.”

Smith has a new crew this year in Damien Payne as Ebbin is unavailable due to sailing commitments for Bermuda in the 29er class.

“Christian was great last year and we really showed that we worked well together but, unfortunately, he has some other sailing commitments in 29er as he gets ready to represent Bermuda in the Youth World Championships,” Smith added. “I will be sailing with Damien this year who is a great Comet sailor and really has more experience than me in the Comet, which is an definite asset, and I think he will be bringing a lot to the table.

“He has already won the race before in 2018 with my dad [Malcolm Smith] and, hopefully, we can get the win again.”

Smith has his work cut out competing in the star-studded 28-boat fleet featuring class heavyweights Stevie Dickinson and Rudy Bailey, who have won 32 titles between them, as well as ten international sailors here on island for next week’s Comet International Championship Regatta.

“I’m excited to see how the overseas fleet compares to our local fleet,” Smith said. “It’ll be great to see so many boats on the start line and will really make it so much more competitive.”

Other notable competitors this year include past winners Dale Brangman, Gladwin Lambert and Rockal Evans, who won his only title to date competing with then teenaged crew Smith.

Brangman finished second last year with East End Mini Yacht team-mate Dickinson, who has won the regatta a record 21 times, rounding off the podium finishers in third.

Not only is Smith confident he can retain his title, but also of making a smooth transition to the Comet class from the ILCA 7 class, which he hopes to represent Bermuda in at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France.

“I expect it to be a pretty easy transition from Laser to Comet,” he said. “There’s some things in Laser that really translate to any boat class, such as working hard on pumping and being active in the boat downwind and reaching to get planing and surfing the waves and also upwind in just being able to hike hard.

“The hardest transition is getting the settings right on the Comet as the Laser is a very basic boat, with only three controls to change the shape of the sail, while the Comet has so many more controls.”

West End Sail Boat Club rear commodore and sailing chairman Lambert, who is making his 64th appearance in the regatta this year, is looking forward to some exciting racing.

“I think it’s going to be exciting because of the amount of boats we haven’t seen for a long time and this is the first time we have had so many overseas sailors in the race,” he said.