World Championships in Sydney, Australia.

It was a major upturn in fortunes for the president of the Bermuda Sailing Association, who finished 25th out of a fleet of 68 in Monday's opening race and 49th on Tuesday.

Speaking from Sydney early today, Patton felt the key to yesterday's success had been an increase in windspeed.

"We had a really good start and got off the line quickly,'' said Patton. "It was a lot more breezy than the first two days and we seem to go a lot better when the winds are up.

"The good news is that the conditions look similar to yesterday,'' he added before going out for today's fourth race in the series of six at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club.

Patton, sailing in his Australian-built boat Bucephalus with his crew of Mike Hein and Chris Hosking, was the only non-Australian skipper among the first five finishers yesterday in winds estimated by Patton to vary from 14 to 20 knots.

Ahead of him were Ian Walker, Mark Richards and overall leader Cameron Miles.

"Now we are up to 25th place overall and we will be able to throw out our 49th. We're just looking to get as good a result as possible,'' added Patton.

PEARMAN TAKES 15-STROKE LEAD GLF Pearman takes 15-stroke lead Dwayne Pearman virtually wrapped up the BPGA Championship at Port Royal yesterday, shooting a third-round 70 to open up a 15-shot lead.

Pearman's round was five shots better than anyone else has managed during the first three wind-ravaged days of the tournament and left him on a 54-hole total of 224 going into today's final round.

His closest challenger is Frankie Rabain, who shot 79 yesterday for a three-day total of 239, while Cornell Bean, who started the day in second place, moved back to third after a disappointing 86 which left him four strokes adrift of Rabain.

Victory for Pearman would give the Ocean View pro his eighth BPGA title. The tournament concludes at Port Royal today.