Sailing Championships took centre stage over the weekend.

Allan Williams sailed away with the Etchells title ahead of pre-race favourite Tim Patton, while Martin Siese and Jay Kempe emerged as champions in the International One Design (IOD) and Tornado fleets respectively.

Light and shifty breezes in the Great Sound greeted competitors and these proved just the tonic for Williams, who showed remarkable consistency, recording three first-place finishes together with two seconds and a third for an overall total of six-and-a-quarter points.

His score was more than 10 points better than runner-up Patton (163 ), who counted a solitary first-place finish and two other disappointing results of seventh and eighth -- the latter was used as a discard -- in the six-race series.

Patton, a dominant force throughout the season, had earlier in the week expressed a desire for stronger winds, but did not get his wish, and thus again found himself deprived of entering the winner's circle.

A mere two points separated the second, third and fourth spots as Jack Outerbridge (173 ) and Derek Ratteray (183 ) followed closely behind Patton.

Meanwhile, Martin Siese took full advantage of the absence of IOD world champion Peter Bromby to snatch the class, barely beating out the challenge of veteran Penny Simmons.

Siese garnered eight-and-a-half points, which was one better than Simmons, including two firsts, two seconds, a third and one fourth, the highest being used as a throw-away.

The pair entered the final race of the day with Simmons needing to place at least two spots in front of Siese. And although the former performed his part, crossing the finish line at the top of the fleet, the latter refused to oblige, placing second, earning him the mantle of national champion.

Also weighing in with a creditable showing was Andreas Lewin, who wound up a not too distant third on 103 points to announce himself as a legitimate threat with the Bank of Bermuda Cup looming later this month.

There was a storm of activity in the Tornado fleet, most caused by opposing rivals Jay Kempe and Glenn Astwood.

Astwood, the defending champion, ended up paying dearly for a sluggish opening race on Saturday, where he placed fourth, as he was never able to make up ground he had squandered to Kempe.

Conversely, Kempe, a former Olympian, got off to a blazing start, winning three of the first four races -- he was second in the other -- allowing him to cruise to the title as he finished the final two races with a second and third.

Kempe tallied six-and-a-quarter points for his efforts over the two days, while Astwood stood a point behind. A distant third was Eddie Bardgett (17), as he and the remaining competitors had little answer to the onslaught of Kempe and Astwood.

The J24 category featured the lone repeat performance that saw Trevor Boyce return to the scene of his 1992 triumph and similarly leave holding the top prize.

Still it was not the runaway margin of victory he enjoyed the previous year, when 10 points was the gulf between he and the second-place finisher.

Kate Williams proved quite a hazard to Boyce, with the last race of the day proving the decider.

As in the case of the IODs, Williams needed to defeat Boyce by more than one place. She failed as Boyce was followed her first-place finish by occupying the runner-up spot.

Third went to Bob McCutcheon (nine-and-a-half points).

Bermuda's Malcolm Smith holds a narrow lead after six races of the World Sunfish Championship in the US Virgin Islands.

With two races remaining tomorrow, Smith has a total of 193 points followed by Venezuela's Eduardo Cordero on 233 .

Smith has a throw-out race of sixth and Cordero one of ninth, making to next two races of great significance.

American Jeff Linton is in third place on 30 point while the surprise of the 65-boat fleet thus far is another Bermudian, Damian Payne, who is fourth on 55.