Rickham and Birrell sailed a flawless regatta to claim their gold in the SKUD class.

Of their eight race series, the two-time world champions won all eight races to win with a ten-point margin and add Sail Melbourne gold to their previous win at the Sail Sydney warm up event.

Thompson emerged victorious in the Laser class, although he did not take the easy route on his way to World Cup glory.

Needing to finish seventh or better to claim the victory, the world silver medallist found himself back in ninth place in the shifting and patchy wind conditions.

Fortunately his two nearest rivals, Australians Tom Burton and Tom Slingsby were, engaged in some match racing and were also near the back of the 10-boat fleet, allowing Thompson to keep hold of the gold.

"It wasn't the nicest position," said Thompson, referring to his ninth place.

"I started at the unfavoured end and sailed into a huge hole.

"But I could see a couple of minutes out that Slingsby and Burton were going at each other so the tactic was to stay as close as I could.

"I was okay from a points aspect."

In the Laser Radial fleet, Andrea Brewster and Charlotte Dobson were the top ranked Britons, in sixth and eighth respectively.

The second leg of the 2010-11 ISAF Sailing World Cup series will be the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta from 23-29 January 2011.