Jack Swikart became only the second overseas helmsman and first in 27 years to win the prestigious Edward Cross Long Distance Comet Race yesterday.

Sailing with sister Kate as crew, the New Jersey resident and Comet International Regatta champion’s gamble to sail farther offshore than his closest rivals towards the end of long reach down the North Shore paid off as he surged into the lead.

The Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club pair then covered the chasing pack playing the shifts on the short beat to the entrance to the Town Cut and gradually extended their lead before crossing the finish line in 1hr 55min 5sec.

“It feels lucky to have won,” Swikart told The Royal Gazette. “We are a little bit light as a pair, so we were hoping it wasn’t going to be too windy, and that worked out for us.

“By the time we were approaching Fort St Catherine, we were thinking about what was going to be the best way to stay in the breeze. We thought being low would work out for us and when everybody came back together, we were ahead.

“We went low about three quarters of the way down the reach. There was a big puff that came through, probably the strongest of the race, and we took that opportunity to cut low of everybody and hope that the breeze would start to fade a little bit, which it did.

“The wind started to freshen up a little bit around the corner and it turned into an upwind leg towards the entrance to the Cut. So from there it was playing defence, like you normally would on the third or fourth leg of a normal course.”

Swikart led by ten boat lengths at the mouth of Town Cut and managed to pull farther away after sailing into more pressure closer inshore.

“We got a puff that no one else got and as soon as we got the breeze, we took that wherever it would take us,” he said. “Anything that would move us in, I didn’t care which side. As long as we had more wind than the guys behind us, we were OK. I didn’t want anybody get wind and overtake us.

“We did have a moment of panic when we couldn’t see if everybody else had breeze or not. We just decided to sit still and be patient and as soon as I could feel one way or the other it was coming, we just let it go.

“That was the biggest luck factor for us. Other than it being it a little lighter behind the fort, that was our second-biggest stroke of luck.

“I definitely feel that we got lucky and it just feels great to be here. We are really grateful for the opportunity to be here and grateful for the opportunity to compete with some of the best sailors in the class that happen to be from Bermuda.

“I have been looking forward to this race for three years and to come here and do this is just such an amazing opportunity.”

Bermuda’s Rudy Bailey and crew Corey Bean finished second, four minutes behind the winners, in 1:59:14, with Mark Hess and Ann Filbert, also of the US, completing the podium in a time of 2:01:00.

Hess is the first overseas helmsman to have won the iconic race, with his historic and sole triumph arriving in 1996.

Fellow Americans Joe and Ian Lauver finished fourth in 2:03:52 with Bermuda’s Gladwin Lambert and crew Stefan Maybury rounding off the top five finishers a further eight seconds adrift.

The race was thrown wide open right at the start after defending champion Benn Smith and fellow contenders and past winners Stevie Dickinson and Maxwell Curtis Jr were disqualified for going over early at the favoured windward end of the line in the Great Sound.

It was not the sendoff Dickinson, who has won the race a record 21 times, had hoped for in his final appearance.

“I think I was a little anxious to get the race started and I ended up being over the line,” Dickinson said.

“I could have restarted but I was hoping I wasn’t over because that’s what you hope. But at the end of the race I was over and I am finished, I am done.

“I have done this race for 47 years, 44 years as a skipper, and been in the winning boat 22 times.”

Olympic hopeful Smith felt he was not over early, as judged by the race committee.

“I don’t think I was over, but it’s the race committee’s decision,” he said.

“I think there were so many boats below us that were blocking our numbers and maybe they saw us poked out after the start because I thought we were right on top of it.

“If anything, I think we were a second late because I was holding back a bit because I knew I didn’t want to be over.”

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