Russell Hodgeson won the Bathsheba Trophy at Skandia Life Cowes Week yesterday only days after taking delivery of his new IMX 40 Maverick II.

Hodgeson came in less than a minute ahead on corrected time of Guernsey-based Swan Spirit of Jethou on a day which saw stiff breezes and 20-knot gusts combined strong tides.

Hodgeson came second in Class 2 in the recent ROC Red Funnel 2000 race. He is lying in the top ten in the overall results this week.

But Spirit of Jethou, a Swan 60, which made its debut at Cowes last year, is enjoying consistent results.

Owner and driver Dr Peter Ogden, chairman of computer company Computacenter, said: "We had good breezes for this boat - a decent enough strength to make the boat go. The first two days were hopeless for us - light airs, then on Monday we were in a fantastic position until the last run then the other boats came in with the sea breeze. It has been a mammoth achievement because the grinder went and we could only use the primary winches to grind in the headsails. Then we broke the mainsheet track and lost all the marbles out of the track on one leg. We also tore one of the sails so we did quite well bearing all that in mind.

"It slowed us down a bit but the grinders did a great job," he said paying tribute to a 20 strong crew which comprises many members of his family.

Another Spirit of Jethou, a Sunseeker XPS 2000 race boat, is being used by Ogden as a superfast daily shuttle between Cowes and Poole, where he is staying.

"It is this year's toy but great fun. It only takes 30 minutes, travelling at 65 knots."

In third place behind Spirit of Jethou was Hampshire's Stuart Childerly and Douglas Flynn in their Beneteau First 47.7, one of many Firsts competing at this years Skandia Life Cowes Week.

Gloves Off, the class leader was in fourth place while Nokia, Charles Dunstone's Bashford Howison 41, put in their best performance of the week to come in fifth, just four minutes behind the winner.

Hamble's Iain May took first again in the Hunter 707 class in Charlie Fish, giving him three firsts and a fourth for the week. He beat another Southampton 707 campaigner Vince Hayter in Crazy Horses by 20 seconds though both boats were last night subject to a protest.

Peter and Flavia Bateson, Royal Southampton YC members achieved a third in IRC Class 4 with Starspray though were also in the protest room on a day that proved especially busy for race officials.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.