Clark and his team had only a three point advantage going into the final day of racing ahead of Etchells World Champion Jud Smith (USA). At the end of the day Clark's team walked away with a nine point lead over what would easily be considered a World Championship quality, 61-boat fleet.

Going into the final day Clark knew his team just needed to stay focused on the small picture, finishing in the top couple of boats in each race. This they did finishing third in race one and second in race two. It helped that the breeze for the best of the day stayed steady, unlike the previous three days when the fleet fought constant breeze shifts on the offshore course.

Etchells World Champion in 2006 and on the Worlds podium six other times, Jud Smith and his team of Mark Johnson and Nik Burfoot finished in second. Smith approached the championship with his typical analytical style. Assisted by former Australian national Olympic coach, Mike Fletcher, and with a careful selection of sails and rigs, Smith carved his way through the fleet. "We like the (first) mast, but I'm not sure I picked the right main. Aside from those things that we might change before the Worlds, am I happy with the sail selection for this regatta ? Yes and no. I am glad we did it. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

"It has been hugely valuable to be out there. It is obviously good competition. Everybody is pretty close. When it comes down to it, it is still a sail boat race and we have to execute the basics like starting consistently, trying to go the right way, managing the fleet. We are improving there, but we have room to improve," Smith said.

Third place went to the talented young team on Two Speed led by Julian Plante. He chipped away at the leaders achieving a top 10 place in all but one race of the regatta.

Julian's crew of Nick Garland, Michael Dunstan and Hannah Nattrass haven't done much sailing together so their's was a particularly encouraging result.

Special mention has to go to John Bertrand and his Olympian team of David Giles and Tom Slingsby. It was an unglamorous start for them with a BFD in race one, then a roller coaster ride from fourth to ninth, down to 15th and 28th on day three, before a superb final day of a second and then a first.

The final day of racing in the Zhik Etchells Nationals started unfavourably with heavy rain, no wind and significant wind shifts. It took over an hour from the planned start time for the race committee to commit to a course of 115 degrees and 1.6 mile leg.

Yesterday's record of start line recalls and black flags hung ominously over the fleet this morning. Jud Smith said of the start line incidents that he felt the line had been set too short. "We recognise that they are a very high risk start. We try to put ourselves in a position to not fail at the start as opposed to getting a great start. It is about risk management because it is a risk start. You can't get a perfect start. All you can go for is a low risk start. It's the length of the line and the people; they are pushing it too hard. They are setting up too early and pushing the line too hard with no place to go," Smith said.

"There were some major shifts, about 20 degrees, rain affected. The small showers were affecting the wind direction. The wind broke up from being steady to 20 degree shifts on the second beat. The first beat there was low shifts to the right and the left. There was lots of action out there.

"We have been working on the communication all week. It's the first time Tom, David and myself have sailed together as a combination. Clearly today we were very happy with the overall result. We will keep talking on how we can make our communication smoother and hopefully more accurate," Bertrand said.

The first place result will give Clark's team a confidence boost as they now go into the final phase of their preparation for the Etchells World Championship to be held off Sydney from 20-25 February.

Etchells World Championship website