Spanish Olympic champions Fernando Leon and Jose Luis Ballester showed their class amid the carnage and controversy of two days of distinctly contrasting conditions to take a three point lead after four races of the Bacardi Rum Tornado World Championships.

They won the only race staged on Monday after competitors were forced to journey up to Murray's Anchorage in search of what little wind there was. It was a calm that caused a storm as only 25 boats out of 62 finished, provoking a protest from one leading participant that the race should not have been staged.

And yesterday, in strong gusts which had the catamarans performing at their fastest, the Spaniards kept their heads while others were quite literally losing their hulls to record fourth and fifth places.

Defending world champion Roland Gaebler stayed in touch in second place overall, placing fifth and fourth in yesterday's races after scraping into the top ten in Monday's dead calm.

But his German compatriot Fabian Will was not so lucky. He suffered damage to the webbing of one hand as he tried to control his craft after a New Zealand boat had taken a large chunk out of his left hull, leaving him with a $2,000 repair bill and a day to find a replacement Tornado.

Olympic silver medallist Mitch Booth, searching here for a record third world championship, was at the centre of Monday's dispute, claiming that the winds were too slow to race properly, a protest denied by the race jury.

He sailed superbly in the wilder conditions yesterday to pick up a second and a first.

But the 65 points added to the score of all those who failed to finish in the alloted 20 minutes after the winner crossed the line on Monday, may have seriously damaged his prospects.

Meanwhile there was disappointment for those who turned up for the post-race Bacardi Blasts yesterday. Scheduled to be held at 3.30 p.m., they actually took place two hours earlier.

Race organisers apologised for the mix-up, explaining that they had to be staged as the boats were coming back from the main event. Steering committee member Willow Dew said that depending on the weather's impact on the championship races, they could now take place any time between 1.30 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. and advised people to ring the regatta office on 234 5318.

Full results, see Scoreboard.