Although disappointed, the ISAF World Ranked No. 6 Sibello’s (his brother Pietro skippers the boat), were philosophical about their demise from the series they were leading.

They are grateful that Gianfranco will be able to compete at the Sail Melbourne Olympic & Invited Classes Regatta starting January 11 at Sandringham Yacht Club.

Four races were sailed today to complete the Australian Championship in south-westerly breezes in the 7-9 knot range that built throughout the afternoon to around 17 knots from the south-south-east.

In good form, former three-time World 49er champion, Chris Nicholson, with crew, Gary Boyd (NSW), won the championship convincingly with 28 points, from Mark Turnbull/Nick Partridge (Vic), with 46 points and Ben and Marcus Tardrew, who sailed exceptionally well to finish third with 57 points.

A multi-talented sailor, Nicholson also recently won the 505 World Championship with brother, Darren, and recently finished second on line aboard Grundig in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart race. He also competed in the recent Volvo Round the World Yacht Race, so has been off the 49er track for a while.

All competitors will leave Geelong tonight to head to Sandringham for the Sail Melbourne Olympic & Invited Classes Regatta.


Overall Top Ten (After 13 Races/2 Discards)

Place	Skipper	From	Total Points
1	C Nicholson	AUS	28
2	M Turnbull	AUS	46
3	B Tardrew	AUS	57
4	J Harris	AUS	59
5	K Nakamura	JPN	63
6	D Jones	AUS	75
7	I Ermakov	RUS	85
8	A Linton	AUS	90
9	L Modena	Italy	98
10	M Kennedy	NZL	102