Unsurprisingly, the two boats full of Australian rowing team members dominated with Tamar's Ciona Wilson in the crew which edged in front with 500m to go.

However, the crew including Huon's double world champions Sarah Hawe jacked up the rate into the headwind and came home with the win by just 0.77 seconds.

A delighted coxswain James Rook said: "It's pretty easy to cox well when you've got the best athletes in the world in your boat. We're very excited to take the whole group off to Tokyo, and charge forward."

Saturday's program went ahead despite overnight storms, 15 millimetres of rainfall and a power outage.

In other Tasmanian results, North Esk finished second in the open women's coxed eight; a North Esk/TIS composite crew came second in the under-23 men's quad scull; a Tas Uni composite won the under-23 women's lightweight quad scull and North Esk's Connor Ryan joined a Swan River crew to claim a silver medal in the open lightweight men's quad scull.

A familiar name was in the New South Wales composite crew from Sydney Rowing Club and Kinross Wolaroi School which won the under-19 women's quadruple scull.

Lily Eales, daughter of Australian rugby legend John Eales, said: "Being able to come together and pull it together on the day was fantastic."

Eales is heading to America's Yale college, but not before applying for the junior Australian team. She said her father is super supportive of her efforts, adding: "I think Dad's more excited than me sometimes!"

The championships conclude on Sunday.