World champion Australians win 505 class XXXX/Ten Trophy.
The brilliant Nicholson brothers sailing team displayed the sailing talent which has won them numerous National and International 505 Dinghy sailing championships to beat the star studded International fleet for the 1996 XXXX/Ten title on Cleveland Bay today.
After starting the six race series brilliantly with a 3-1-1 score in the first three heats the Nicholson's consolidated the title win by protecting their score over the final three heats.
However there may be a warning for skipper Chris and sailhandler Darren if the seven race World championship is sailed in light winds similar to todays Australian championship final. No Australian crew could manage a top 12 placing in the low power 5 to 8 knot seabreeze which prevailed leaving them to sail in the second line with second use of the disturbed wind pattern.
English skipper John Robinson led the charge which was dominated by the highly skilled English, Swedish and United States crews.
Robinson made sure he was one of the first out of the gate start which allowed him to generally dictate the terms of the race from the front despite being challenged by the consistent Swedes, Ebbe Rosen and Kane Nilsson.
All three crews had good pace in the light breeze and this allowed them to repel the challenges which hovered in their wake all race.
Naturally interest focused on the Nicholson team when they failed to crank up to a competitive speed to finally finish with 14th place.
"we do have a problem with our light wind performance at the moment but" Darren and I expect to correct that with a new headsail which arrives from the North Loft tomorrow, we are lacking in light wind performance but this sail should correct the fault." said chris nicholson.
" Further Information: Ian Grant 015 592 664
GBR 8481 J. Robinson/B Masterman, UK 1, SWE 8232 E Rosen/W Wenrup, Sweden 2, SWE 7343 K Nilsson.M Ahrsom, Sweden 2, SWE 8551 D Scheder/J Arvedson, Sweden 4, GBR 8510 I Barker/D Cripps, UK 5, GBR 8552 M Upton-Brown/N Vooght, UK 6, SWE 8475 K Bergstrom/M Westerdahl, Sweden 7, GBR 8521 P Towers/D Johnson, UK 8, USA 8266 H Hamlin/C Lewis, USA 9, GBR 8483 I Robson/A Palmer, UK 10.
Final Placings (Australian Resident crews). Aust 8619 C Nicholson/D Nicholson, NSW 24.0 pts 1, AUS 8559 A Higgins/D Wilsdon, SA 36.0 pts 2, AUS 8548 H Stodart/A Baker, NSW 38.7 pts 3, AUS 8617 G Searant/K Sinclair, NSW 44.0 pts 4, AUS 8618 D Blatchford/J Field, NSW 50.0 pts 5, AUS 8523 P Hewson/T Blatchford, NSW 51.7 pts 6.