Current Australian Champions, Ben Nicholas and Thomas Winter from Darwin, dominated a 77 boat fleet to win the 1999 Tasar International Regatta, held on Lake Hamana-ko, near Nagoya, Japan. Ben and Thomas had the regatta won after 8 of 10 races, with 6 firsts, a 4th and an 8th. They won race 9 and discarded their 8th and a black flag disqualification in the final race to finish the regatta with 11 points. Always in or near the front after the first work, their superior offwind speed left most of the fleet wondering what was going wrong.

Japanese teams were very strong in this regatta. Ikuya and Noriko Tanaka won race 10 to move up to second with 31 points, one point ahead of George and Natsuki Motoyoshi. Consistant sailing by Americans Paul Beavis and Todd Adrian gave them a well earned fourth overall with 37 points, ahead of the Japanese team of Nobuhiro and Haruna Tsutsumi, who won race 5 and finished 5th with 47.points.

Martin Linsley and Nick Gray from the ACT were next best Australians in 6th (AUS, 57 points), after winning the invitation series held prior to the main regatta in the heaviest winds of the regatta, a very pleasant 15- 18knots. Yasushi and Mahoro Uchimura were 7th (JPN, 68), Yutaka and Kanoko Murayama in 8th (JPN, 82), Takumi Ozawa and Hiroki Ishihara in 9th (JPN, 98) and Tim and Mayumi Knight (GBR, 101) rounded out the top 10.

Former UK and European Champion, Constantine Udo and Jan Slotemaker from Holland finished 14th with 118 points to win the Grand Masters. The Japanese team of Minoru Minoura and Tsuyoshi Hachisuka finished 18th with 217 points to win the Masters. Bryan and Moira Hill, with combined ages of over 120, were designated "Super Grand Masters" and awarded a trophy for their 66th place. Frank Bethwaite, sailing with Eriko Ikeda, who was 3rd in race 1 when it was abandoned in a dying breeze as the leaders rounded the first mark, and who finished 52nd overall, also received a Super Grand Master's award to recognize his sailing skills at age 79.

Todd and Leslie Blumel were the top Canadian team, finishing 32nd with 237 Points. American David Ryan, sailing with Shoko Hirao, was black flagged in race 1 and then withdrew from the regatta to go to Taiwan to report on the major earthquake for his newspaper, such was his dedication to work.

The competition within the Australian team, sponsored by P & O Nedlloyd and National Car Rental, was intense with Robert Saunders/Phil Duvollet 17th, Rob & Pam Gilpin 20th, John Tracy/Peter Nevard 21st, Ian Guanaria/Maria Burden 22nd, Mike & Kim Paynter 23rd and Moth Champion Mark Thorpe 24th.

Excellent race management and a social program that brought all competitors together off the water made this one of the best Tasar world events ever. Support for overseas entrants was outstanding, and special thanks go to Noriko Tanaka, who worked for many months to make sure that every question from outside Japan was answered, and who continued to help throughout the regatta (and was still able to finish second overall - amazing!).

Ian Guanaria