If preparation wins world championships, two weeks today Germany's Roland Gaebler will be just one race away from celebrating a second successive Tornado catamaran title.

By then the 33-year-old sailor will have been in Bermuda for more than a month, around three-quarters of that time spent in training and practice for the competition which starts on November 8. By contrast, of those he sees as his major rivals -- Spain's Olympic champions Leon and Ballester, Australia's silver medallist Mitch Booth, Grael and Schmidt of Brazil and Hagara of Austria -- none were due on the Island prior to this weekend.

It's no guarantee of success, he admits, but he will at least know he has done everything he can to eliminate anything that could cost him the chance of re-claiming the championship he won for the first time in Queensland, Australia, last year: he will be aware of the size of the waves, the swell, the changeable nature of the wind -- not to mention which sail he will end up using. "I'm down to the two best ones,'' he says, "and in the next few days we will decide which one to use.'' By way of explanation, Gabler adds: "We wanted to learn how it is to sail here. Each place is different.'' In Australia, for example, there were swells of up to five metres, but at least the wind was constant. In Bermuda, as any local sailor will testify, it is the shifty, unpredictable winds you have to watch for.

But even with the experiences of those three-and-a-half weeks locked away in the memory for hopefully swift recall at requisite times throughout the tournament, a series of 10 races each lasting up to two hours, Gaebler knows the odds are against him.

"It's a very hard thing to win,'' he says. "The competition is so hot that any one of the top 12 or 15 teams can win. And because this is a new place, some of those who are not normally so good can find something in the conditions that makes them better.

"Also, with these one design boats, it is the sailor who makes the difference.'' Helping to make the difference on Gaebler's two-man craft is another former world champion, Rene Schwall, who won with his brother Oliver at Long Beach, California, in 1993.

The pair have only been sailing together for about a year -- when Gaebler finished seventh at last year's Olympics in Savannah, Georgia, he was partnered by Frank Parlow -- and, as with any relatively new partnership, there are still small things to be ironed out.

But they have done well enough in that time to be ranked top of the latest ratings for the class.

Gaebler got his start in the sport 20 years ago at the age of 13 on a small river in Bremen, where he was born, encouraged by his father who "sailed a bit''.

In his early days he learned on Lasers, single-handed dinghies which would later win Olympic status. "Things gradually became more intense. I trained every day after school,'' he recalls.

National Service beckoned, but he never set foot in a barracks. His time was spent mainly advancing his skills on the water because, under the German system, those who had reached a special level in their chosen sport were freed to pursue it further. Gaebler was already a Laser European champion.

From Lasers, he progressed to the multi-hull Tornados, which he has now been sailing for more than ten years.

Competition in an Olympic year will take up about ten months of his time; in a year such as this it's nearer six to eight. Away from the water he has turned to sports marketing and event organisation -- as vice-president of the International Tornado Association he was instrumental in bringing the world championships back to Bermuda after an absence of 11 years.

And he has spent the last few months fighting off the Hoby catamaran bid to replace the Tornado in the Olympic multi-hull class.

One of the things he was defending was the Tornado's reputation for speed.

That is what attracts him and makes it a spectacular craft to watch in action.

But there is another aspect to this: it is not just its speed across the water -- in strong winds the boat can reach up to 60kph -- but also the quickness of thought needed to control it.

"For sure, '' he admits, " if you make a mistake you can end up flying off fast in completely the wrong direction.'' TORNADO WARNING -- Speed of thought and action are the skills required to win and retain a Tornado World Championships according to the current title holder, German Roland Gaebler.