A WINDERMERE sail maker has been crowned world champion in Flying Fifteen sailing after coming out on top in the two-week competition at New Zealand.

Steve Goacher, owner of Goacher Sails, and crewman Tim Harper fought off the 56 other challengers in the seven-race series held at Napier to pick up his fourth world title, but his first for nearly two decades.

Goacher, 64, previously won the world title in a 20-foot Keelboat in 1995, 1997, and 1999.

Those three successes were achieved with a different partner, Phil Evans, who retired two years ago. But he struck up a new partnership with boat builder Harper, from Southport, and they went into the World Championships in good spirits.

A shaky start down under though left them on the back foot as the pair finished 19th in the opening race when they were caught out by a wind shift.

Fortunes improved however and three race wins put them in a commanding position going into the final race which they came through to claim the title, fending off opposition from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Hong Kong.

"What pleases me the most is to win it again after 18 years we've entered every one since," said Goacher. "We've come close but never quite cracked that top spot.

"The fact that me and Tim are a fairly new partnership means it's great for us to have done it. It was a great feeling to win, without a doubt.

"It was a fairly light-wind event with rough water which makes it pretty difficult to sail in because if you make a mistake early on it's much harder to pull your way through the fleet."