of the Tornado World Championships after waking up after Wednesday's rest day to find he had been relegated from second to tenth place.

The German, who had been penalised for a premature start in the third of the nine-race series, accused the committee of making a "terrible mistake,'' saying protests were supposed to be dealt with within two or three hours of the race, "not two days later''.

And he claimed that the timing of the news could have had an impact on his performance in yesterday's fifth race. Last night he launched a protest against the decision, but emerged unsuccessful after a hearing lasting more than an hour.

Chuck Millican, chairman of the race committee, admitted there had been an administrative oversight, but denied Gaebler had been treated in a prejudicial way.

Gaebler said yesterday: "This morning they put up a list and that was the first we knew about it. It was a big shock for me -- the biggest shock I've had in the last few years of competition -- because this is not a joke, it's the world championships.

"When I saw the list it was just before going out. One moment you know you are second but just before you go out you find you are not second. The blood pressure was up.'' After the ruling against him had been confirmed, he said: "I am personally very unhappy about the decision. The jury said the race committee had a better view. They admitted mistakes had been made by the committee in not telling us earlier but said it did not make any difference.

"Unfortunately there seems to be no rule for mistakes of the race committee.'' Millican said: "There was a mistake made in the recording which wasn't spotted until this morning. He was over the line early -- whether he likes it or not.'' Gaebler and crewman Reni Schwall overcame the shock sufficiently to record sixth place yesterday as only one race went ahead because of light winds in the region of five knots. But it was a slight disappointment after a good start which put them as high as third at one point.

Gaebler said: "I think we had the best start of the whole fleet today, and everything was fine, but then the boats on the right side got more wind.'' The Germans lay in seventh place overall last night after another good day by the current Olympic champions from Spain, Fernando Leon and Jose Luis Ballester. They finished third to extend their overall lead to 18 points with The French pair of Pennec and Guichard, who won yesterday's race, moving up to second overall.

Asked if he'd prefer stronger winds, Leon replied: "Gaebler is very good in the strong winds and Pennec in the light winds, so I don't know which is better for us. But I think we like more wind because it is more fun.'' Meanwhile, Gaebler's German training partners, Johannes Polgar and Cursten Happel, remained in third overall, although their placing of 17th yesterday was their worst of the regatta.

Australians Darren Bundock and John Forbes have begun to find some consistency, with yesterday's second position keeping them in the top ten.

Whoever does ultimately win this championship can be sure the outcome will not be decided before the final day on Saturday.

Two races of the orginal ten have now been lost because of lack of wind, so the tournament could be decided over a total of eight. Six must be completed for the championship to have validity, but fears of not reaching that can be laid to rest with gusts in the region of 20-plus knots forecast for today.