QUADRUPLE world champion Ian Williams once again showed his class as he scooped a fifth RYA National Match Racing title at Queen Mary Sailing Club.

As a result of the triumph in Middlesex, the Lymington-based skipper joined Mark Campbell-James and two-time Olympian Andy Beadsworth at the top of the all-time winners’ list.

The 37-year-old Williams, who led Gerry Mitchell, Simon Shaw and James French, said: “It is always satisfying to win any match racing regatta.

“We were the most experienced team but in match racing it is all about the performance on the day and you’ve still got to get the job done.

“After losing to Ali Hall in our sixth race we needed to win all our remaining three races and hope he slipped up along the way, so when we crossed the finish line in our last race we did not know if we had won or not. Fortunately for us, Ali had lost some races so we came out on top.”

The event saw a hike in standard with the quality of sailing in the round robin stages higher than in previous years.

Williams added: “We last competed in the RYA National Match Racing Championships two years ago and I think the standard has improved a great deal in that time.

“We were behind at some point in four out of nine races and really had to fight for all our wins.”

Next up for Williams and his GAC Pindar team are the finals of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour in Malaysia in February where they will aim for a fifth world title.