Newly crowned world sailing champion Frank Tolhurst is rolling up his sleeves to chase another title - this time on land.

In a few weeks he'll be lining up his prize Hereford bulls in the Royal Easter Show ring for the first time.

"We have high expectations of their chances," he said yesterday ' amid celebrations of yet another sailing triumph.

This time it was the E22 world championship sailed off Palm Beach over the past six days.

Tolhurst defeated crews from all over the world, including an American contingent of 17 boats.

Aided by his crew of Norm Hyett and John Stanley, Tolhurst sailed Arunga II into fifth place in yesterday's final heat behind Pod O'Donnell. O'Donnell, another Pittwater entrant would have won the world title had Tolhurst finished sixth.

"We kept a close watch on Poddy all the way and we were both third or fourth for most of the race," Tolhurst said.

"He got through the leading boats near the finish but it really didn't matter. We were always well ahead of the sixth boat in fact we were only a couple of seconds behind fourth."

Yesterday's triumph completes another chapter in the Tolhurst story - probably one of the most intriguing sagas in Australian sailing.

At 52 years of age the E22 title is his second world championship. He was 5.5 metre champion in 1976 - the year he and his crew made a clear sweep of the world's major races.

They won the Australian championship, the world title and King Olaf race in Norway and the Scandinavian Gold Cup.

Yet the closest Tolhurst gets to water for most of the year is watching his prize Herefords drink from a dam on his 800ha stud property in the New England district.

"We probably only sail about half a dozen times a year," Tolhurst said.

"We took delivery of the E22 last May but it has just been sitting there because there was not time to race."

Tolhurst finally blew the dust off Arunga last November to qualify for the world titles.

Their next start was two months later when they took the series by storm.

In six races they finished third, first, first, fifth, seventh and fifth.

For more pictures, see Pan Am Clipper Cup or Big Schott websites

Seaflyer was christened in September 1978 as Seaply, however had to change her name to Seaflyer due to Rule 26. 

She sailed in the World Quarter Ton Championships in Japan in 1979, finishing in 3rd place.

Crew: Hugh Trehane (Skipper), John Stanley, Mike Sharp, Jamie Wilmot (James Wilmot)

For more pictures, refer to the Seaflyer website.