Peter Wickwire captured a fourth International Race Week title as the Chester Nova Scotia IOD Fleet tightened their stranglehold on the Bacardi-sponsored invitational regatta.

The Canadian helmsman held a seven-point lead in the classic International One Design fleet going into yesterday’s final day of racing in the Great Sound and did exactly what he had to do to finish the deal.

Wickwire and his youthful crew produced a 2-1 record on the day to claim the Richard Kempe Memorial Trophy for winning the B series, and the Vrengen Gold Cup for overall honours, to complete an impressive sweep having secured the A series earlier in the regatta.

It is the fifth successive year in which a team from the Chester Fleet have won overall honours.

“We tried to keep the streak going and it worked out,” Wickwire said. “It has been fantastic week.

“The sailing has been amazing and the race committee incredibly strong. Somers Kempe, who is a past commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, did a great job running the race committee and the boats were great.

“The Bermudian IOD fleet did a fantastic job providing 13 great quality boats to race.”

The multiple Race Week winner praised his crew which included Emily Merry, Hilary Grantmyre, Chris Veinot and Dan MacMillan.

“I think it was the crew that really carried the momentum in this event,” Wickwire added. “There weren’t too many errors around the racecourse. They were just consistently strong throughout the event and so much fun to sail with.”

Wickwire and his team-mates clinched the overall series after overcoming a shaky start in the penultimate race and the B Series in the next.

Peter Rugg and John Burnham, of Fishers Island Yacht Club, finished second in both the B Series and overall series.

“If you look at our scoreline we had some ups and we had some downs and some races were better than others,” Burnham, a past IOD world champion, who shared the helm with Rugg throughout the regatta, said.

“We feel pretty good about the way we sailed but Peter Wickwire just took it to another level in the middle of the week. He won three of the last four races and it was no accident.”

Rounding off the podium in the B series and overall series was Bermuda’s Martin Siese, who competed under the Sandys Boat Club banner.

“Overall third is probably what we deserved,” said Siese, who won yesterday’s opening race — his second of the regatta. “We had good and bad days and weren’t consistent enough.

“When we were good, we were really good.

“But when we were bad, we were too bad.”

Siese finished tied on points with Wickwire in the A series, but he was pipped by his Canadian rival for the BW “Jordy” Walker Memorial Trophy on a tiebreak.