Boardsailing: Kiwis hoping for more wind as crunch time approaches

New Zealand's boardsailors are hoping Sydney harbour can throw up a bit more breeze over the next three days as they reach the business end of their bid for Olympic gold.

With three races to go in the women's event, former Olympic champion Barbara Kendall lies in third place, just three points from leader Amelie Lux of Germany.

Sandwiched between them is world champion Alessandra Sensini of Italy.

The three have dominated the competition, with the gap to rest of the fleet so great now that it seems almost certain that they will share the medals.

New Zealand coach Grant Beck said a key reason for why the regatta had developed that way was because the prevailing conditions had favoured Lux and Sensini.

Kendall, on the hand, was hanging in on the strength of her ability and experience.

``Barbara is staying there, not because she's so good in light air, but because she's sailing really well and is just giving it everything,'' Beck said.

The fleet is due to sail two more races on Friday afternoon and have a rest day tomorrow and before going out for the final race on Sunday.

``It would be nice to see some variation in the wind,'' Beck said.

``We've had eight races now out of 11 and only one has been over 11 knots.''

At the same time, Beck did not believe the title would be decided by wind strength, with Kendall having as much of a chance as Lux and Sensini no matter what the conditions.

``I don't think Barbara has a better chance than the other girls, but she's got as good a chance as them,'' he said.

``This is the Olympics and so many things can happen. It's not just your own performance. It's the other person's as well, and that might drop or it might lift. There are so many variables.''

Kendall, Olympic champion in 1992 and silver medallist four years ago, maintained her challenge in eight-knot winds yesterday with a third placing followed by her second win of the regatta.

The men's fleet have four more races to sail, and McIntosh is also lying third overall, although he had a larger leeway to make up - 14 points to leader Christoph Sieber of Austria.

In yesterday's only contest because of lack of wind early on, McIntosh boosted his hopes by grabbing his first victory of the week.

The three-time world champion got a good start and then simply sailed away to cross almost a minute ahead of the rest.

``It was nice solid performance and it was a shame Aaron didn't get to race again because they ran out of time,'' Beck said.

He felt the deficit between McIntosh and Sieber could definitely be made up.

He said there others further back, such as defending Olympic champion Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (fourth) and local sailor Lars Kleppich (sixth), who also remained in firm contention.

- NZPA