Sunday April 7th 1996

Swedish World 505 sailing champion excells in tough winds.

Four times World 505 sailing champion Krister Bergstrom of Sweden expressed his proven sailing talent on Townsville's Cleveland Bay today to score a very impressive win in the fourth heat of the 1996 XXXX Ten Australian championship.

After Saturday's rest day the fleet were naturally a little aggressive forcing race officials to recall the initial start.

However when the fleet settled into the demanding windward beat it became evident that the Bergstrom and Martin Westerdahl sailing team were going to be the combination to beat.

By the end of the first three legs which included two feet spinnaker sailing reaches in 20 knot winds the Swedish crew proved they were the boat to beat with a comfortable race lead over the English skipper and defending World champion Ian Barker.

The American crew of Jeff Miller and Mike Martin also showed their liking to the stronger sailing winds by producing their best performance trailing Bergstrom and Barker at each rounding mark of the course.

Surprisingly the Australian crews, particularly dual World champions and present Australian championship leaders Chris and Darren Nicholson of Toronto Sailing club (NSW), were outpaced in the fresher winds and rougher water conditions.

Bergstrom made full use of sailing with first use of the wind but he never made a mistake to control the tactics despite being pressed by the English crew.

He and his highly talented crew mate Martin Westerdahl gave the indication they will be hard to beat in next week's 1996 World Championship with their fresh wind performance to take the heat points ahead of the English and American crews.

Further Information : Ian Grant 015 592 664

Results:

Sunday April 7th 1996.

At Townsville Sailing Club Queensland.

1996 XXXX Ten Australian 505 Dinghy Championship Heat 4 (Provisional Subject to protest and race committee report).

Monday April 8th 1996 1830 hrs.

Swedish 505 Champion sets pace in XXX National series.

Bergstrom, winner of four World Championships, has both the burning ambition and the talent to master all of the variable wind and sea conditions.

He and sailhandler Westerdahl expressed their confidence and experience to win the fifth heat of the Australian championship in a similar style to their heavy wind win on Sunday.

However while they seem to be able to produce the marginal edge in all angle sailing speed their major winning advantage appears to be able to sail smarter when the pressure is on.

The Swedish combination had to find something extra when the Americans Howie Hamlin and Cam Lewis matched them for speed and tactics for the first half of the course.

But the result was put beyond doubt when Bergstom broke clear in the lighter wind to take his second successive heat win from the American crew of Hamlin and Lewis while the defending World champion Ian Barker of England completed another high scoring race with third place.

Chris and Darren Nicholson gained their championship discard when they failed to break clear of the pack to finish in the middle of the fleet however they still lead the XXXX National title with a 3-1-1-10 - discard into tomorrows final heat.

Further Information: Ian Grant 015 592 664.

Results:

At Townsville Sailing Club Cleveland Bay Townsville QLD.

XXXX Australian 505 Class Championship Heat 5: SWE 8475 (K Bergstrom / M Westerdahl, Sweden) 1, USA 8266 (H Hamlin/C Lewis, USA) 2, GBR 8510 (I Barker/D Cripps, UK) 3, AUS 8559 (A Higgins/D Wilsdon, SA) 4, AUS 8618 (D Blatchford/J Field, NSW) 5, GBR 8521 (P Towers/D Johnson, UK) 6, GBR 8552 (M Upton-Brown/V Vooght, UK) 7, AUS 8589 (P Gray.D Machin, Ald) 8, SWE 7343 (K Milsson/M Ahrsom, Sweden) 9, AUS 8617 (G Searant/K Sinclair, NSW), 10.