East Lyme — Two years ago, Toms River, N.J.

Gary Woodruff of Niantic Bay Yacht Club led the Ensign Class National Championship after two days, one day of competition and one rained out session. The rest didn't go so well.

So when this year's racing started out the same way, Woodruff tied with a regatta-best 10 points on the first day and a rainy second session, Woodruff started to get nervous.

"I was extremely anxious the whole time," Woodruff said. "After we managed not to screw anything up (Wednesday), I felt better. Now that it's over, I'm definitely relieved. I'm not really feeling the full effect of joy yet. That will come."

Still leading heading into the final day Thursday at this year's 54th Ensign Nationals, being held at Niantic Bay, Woodruff did the opposite of screwing things up. He won both races held to finish the regatta emphatically, with the 34-year-old capturing his first national championship.

Woodruff, aboard the red-hulled "Tailgunner," finished with 18.5 points. "Menekaune," sailed by Mike Derusha of the Michigan-based Ensign fleet 12, was second with 26 points and "Never-Enz," sailed by Peter Heffernan from the Huntington, N.Y.-based Fleet 7 was third with 30.

Eric Jones in "Teamwork," representing Thames Yacht Club in New London, was sixth with 61 points, and Robin Durrschmidt in "Magic," from Niantic Bay was 10th with 73.5. thirty-nine boats competed over eight races, with the worst race thrown out of the totals for each competitor.

Woodruff's worst race was a 16th, which came in the first race Wednesday. He recovered to finished second and seventh in the remaining two races of the day. Woodruff's crew members were Mike Murin and Laura Dobbin, also of Niantic Bay, and Benz Faget of New Orleans.

"Everything clicked with the crew today," said Woodruff, who lives in Windsor, but grew up sailing at Niantic Bay. "We got good starts. We made good calls. Yesterday there were some mistakes. We made some wrong calls.

"... I've been sailing here since the third grade. It's pretty awesome to win it here."

Woodruff originally sailed in the class as a crew member for his dad, Ward, in "Nightwind." Ward, who is vice commodore at Niantic Bay, was unable to compete this week due to shoulder surgery, but served on the race committee.

Ward also deserves a lot of the credit for "Tailgunner," being race-worthy in the first place, Gary said. The family originally bought the boat, which was filled up to the seats in the cockpit with water, he said, for $900 and restored it. It promptly won the 2003 "Most Beautiful Ensign" award.

"It goes to show you a 1964 boat with a lot of TLC can do just as much as any other boat," Gary Woodruff said.

On Thursday, Woodruff and his crew won the first start and led throughout the whole race, capturing their first victory of the regatta. He said there was a shift in wind right before the second race, causing a delay.

In the second race, Woodruff said he sailed mainly in second place, "covering" the third place boat, while doing everything in his power not to let that boat pass. Meanwhile, the first-place boat sailed to a different side of the course than Woodruff and his crew, allowing them to vault into first place once again.

Woodruff, with a weather-worn Red Sox cap he now refers to as his lucky hat, was carrying his and wife Pamela's 17-month old son Donovan following the race. There was a banquet scheduled for Thursday night at the Coast Guard Academy.

"I know people are going to say it's a home-field advantage (at Niantic Bay), but we didn't have the normal wind that we have here. We worked very hard for it."

Sarah Brousseau in "Grasshopper," also of Niantic Bay, was the youngest skipper in the fleet at 22 and distinguished herself with a first-place finish in the opeing race Wednesday. Crew members were Michael Brousseau and Alex Rudkin.

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday