This allowed current World Champions, Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas to drop their two worst results to regain first place by one point from Stephen and Philip Keen. Cooke explained that they were very aware of the points situation going into the last race and were able to do just enough to clinch the lead with a third place in the last race. Trailing eight points behind in third place were Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt.

Jon-Paul Tobin rounded off the four days of intensive sailing with two firsts to claim the championship from Dutch sailor Joeri van Dijk. These two have battled the whole series claiming most of the first and second places. Young Bucklands Beach sailor James Wells took out a creditable third. Barbara Kendall comfortably won the women's division and finished 5th in the Open Fleet. Sheena McKinnon and Julie Worth finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Sarah Macky blitzed the Europe fleet with wins in all but one of the 8 races she sailed. Her lead ensured she did not have to sail the last race to win the event. Sarah's form against such sailors as Sharon Ferris, Kate O'Brien and Sara Winther bodes well for another bid at the Olympics in Athens next year. Tornado sailors Aaron McIntosh and Mark Kennedy and 49ers, Dan Slater and Nathan Handley dominated their respective classes to finish top of the leaderboard.

A significant result was that of Laser sailor Robbie McMillan who has shown good form in recent times. McMillan finished 14 points clear of Andrew Murdoch another young sailor who recently was defending his world Team Racing title in the 420 class. The Laser fleet was extremely competitive at this Olympicsail with a mixture of young and more experienced sailors. With Michael Bullot just back in fifth it seems a new generation of high performance singlehanded sailors have emerged.

Clifton Webb did not need to sail the last race to win the Finn series but second place was won on count back by Craig Monk from Yachting New Zealand coach Peter Fox.

In the junior classes which joined Olympicsail for the weekend Chris Dawson from Murrays Bay had a very strong series in the P class. Matt Coutts also from Murrays Bay had a similarly large margin over second placed Max Andrews another Murrays Bay Sailing club member in the Starlings. The Splash class which is not often seen in Auckland ws well supported with a fleet of 11 boats and this was headed by Taipa sailor Brett Elstob.

A small fleet in the 29er class which is often seen as the trainer for the Olympic 49er was won by Kohimarama Yacht Club members Scott Morrison and James Williamson. A somewhat larger doublehanded class the 420 had 13 entires and considering that there were virtually no 420's in the country two years ago was a great achievement and is an indication of the growing strength of doublehanded sailing at present. This class will soon be trialling for places in the ISAF Youth worlds and so Scott Kennedy and Alastair Thompson in the boys and Olivia Powrie and Sarah Bilkey are showing great promise as potential New Zealand's representatives.

Not to be outdone by the bigger boats the Optimist fleet were also in force at the regatta with Luke Deegan from Howick leading home Scott Davies. Winner of the Green fleet was Sylvie Admore from the host club. No doubt these names we will see these names again during the Optimist National Championship in Picton at Easter and in an Olympic class in a few years time.

Final Results:

Finn
1. Clifton Webb (10)
2. Craig Monk (23)
3. Peter Fox (23)

470 Men
1. Simon Cooke / Peter Nicholas (14)
3. Andrew Brown / Jamie Hunt (23)

470 Women
1. Shelley Hesson / Linda Dickson (38)
2. Sally Garrett / Raynor Smeal (64)
3. Karen Lambert / Alesha Thorpe (80)

49er
1. Dan Slater / Nathan Handley (9)
2. Mike Bassett / Kurt Riechelmann (18)

Europe
1. Sarah Macky (9)
2. Sharon Ferris (18)
3. Kate O'Brien (29)

Mistral Men
1. Jon-Paul Tobin (15)
2. Joeri Van Dijk (18)
3. James Wells (23)

Mistral Women
1. Barbara Kendall (41)
2. Sheena McKinnon (56)
3. Julie Worth (64)

Laser
1. Robbie McMillan (21)
2. Andrew Murdoch (35)
3. Rod Dawson (38)

Tornado
1. Aaron McIntosh / Mark Kennedy (10)
2. Nigel Williams / Jeremy Stephenson (19)
3. John Clinton / Andy Robertson (19)

JUNIOR CLASSES:

420
1. Scott Kennedy / Alastair Thompson (9)
2. Garth Ellingham / Scott Illingworth (9)
3. Olivia Powrie / Sarah Bilkey (14)

29er
1. Scott Morrison / James Williamson (10)
2. Ivan Roas / Michael Baird (14)
3. Michelle Kennedy / Tali Abercromby (14)

Optimist Green
1. Sylvie Admore (10)
2. Jamie Dawson (13)
3. Hugo Sayes (16)

Optimist IODA
1. Scott Davies (12)
2. Luke Deegan (16)
3. Kate Ellingham (19)

P Class
1. Chris Dawson (8)
2. Jake Lawrence (18)
3. Michael Langley (19)

Splash
1. Brett Elstob (7)
2. Jeoffrey Clark (17)
3. Averil Hibbard (17)

Starling
1. Matt Coutts (7)
2. Max Andrews (22)
3. Paul Baker (27)

Source: Louise Andrews