After playing together just seven times, Jonathan Erdmann and Marvin Klass claimed the world Under-19 Beach Volleyball championship crown on a wet and wild Saturday on Horseshoe Bay.

With the onset of Hurricane Florence ensuring a day of constant drizzle and strong enough gusts to make play difficult, the German teenagers found a way to beat the Italian giant Nicolai Paulo and agile team-mate Francesco Giontella to claim an emotional 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 victory.

And the girls crown was won by passionate Aussie pair Alice Rohkamper and Becchara Palmer on a day that began with organisers arriving to find courts three to six underwater.

Court two was also covered in the onrushing sea water from the previous night's high tides but that was quickly removed as an already condensed tournament couldn't afford to run any later with the threat of strong winds and the need to bring down the centre court infrastructure before the winds got too strong.

In front of a crowd which reached no more than 400 ? Florence was probably the only thing to keep a capacity 1,500 crowd away ? quarter-finals and semi-finals were played in increasingly overcast conditions.

By the time the ladies took to the court for their final, one rain shower had already hit the beach and a dull drizzle ensured the sun-baked conditions that had tired out players all week were no longer an issue.

The problem for both the Australians and their Dutch opponents Marleen Van Iersel ? the World Under 21 bronze medallist ? and Danielle Remmers, the European Under-18 champions, was the wind.

All four girls struggled to jump serve in the conditions while a number of points were settled by wind-induced unforced errors rather than any beach volleyball brilliance.

The Dutch girls, despite lacking the height of their antipodean rivals, were in command in the first set, taking it 21-7.

The Aussies then fought back from 16-14 down in the second to tie things up and force a tie-breaker.

There was a long break at 7-3 after Van Iersel needed treatment for sand in her eye and, with rain falling harder, there was an even longer break at 11-9 after a protracted row over the score.

The game was halted for more than five minutes and the head referee was called to the court to debate with the chair umpire and the players over whether the score was 11-9 or 12-8 to the Aussies.

The row was finally settled, after both sets of players had taken their turn berating the various referees, and play continued.

The Aussies didn't take long wrapping up the victory and were soon in floods of tears with the realisation of what they had achieved.

"I can't believe we've done it," said Palmer, still crying.

"We thought we might have a chance but it is incredible to actually do it. It was horrible when we had the disagreement over the score so close to the end but I guess everyone was doing their best and we were glad to finish off the game.

"It was very hot earlier in the week and it was hard having to play all those matches so close to each other.

"Even though it wasn't hot it was still really, really hard work."

There were no tears after the final match of the tournament, but there were kisses exchanged by Engelmann and Klass after their victory.

Taking on the hot favourites ? mostly because the 6ft 4ins Paulo had proved such a revelation blocking at the net throughout the tournament ? the Germans found a way past the Italian monster to claim victory.

After rushing to a 3-1 lead, the Italians played four quite magnificent points to go up 5-3 before the Germans pegged them back and claimed the first set 21-18.

The Italians, courtesy of Paulo's trademark aerial interventions, took the second 21-17 to set up the sort of grandstand finish the tournament ? hit hard by Florence ? deserved.

With the rain still falling, the Germans employed the necessary efficiency and went through the tie-break almost mistake free while a couple of wayward serves from the tiring qualifiers meant for a Teutonic win.

"We very happy," said Erdmann, who admitted the two had never played together before getting to Bermuda.

"It was hard all week with the very hot temperatures but it was easier today in the rain. They were very good so we had to play well.

"We are very happy to be the world champions."

As well as their world crowns, both sets of winners earned wildcards to pro tour events.

In earlier games, fellow Germans Svenja Engelhardt and Britta Buthe claimed the bronze while the men's third-place was taken by Italian twins Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso.