Sailing: Novice grabs win in Europe debut

By ROBERT LOWE of NZPA - 9:00 PM

A win for Olympic novice Sarah Macky on her first day of competition was among the highlights in a good set of results by New Zealand's sailors in Sydney yesterday.

The Aucklander placed 12th and first in her two races in the Europe dinghy class on a busy harbour, as the Olympic yachting regatta finally got steady conditions that allowed organisers to run a full scheduled programme for the first time.

Macky, at 20 the baby of the New Zealand sailing team, ended the day fifth overall, six points off the lead.

Among the other classes, the Soling crew confirmed their top-three seeding for the 12-boat match-racing phase, while Aaron McIntosh joined fellow boardsailor Barbara Kendall as a serious medal contender.

In winds that began at 12 knots and died to about five, Soling skipper Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith returned a seventh and a third to finish the fleet racing segment second overall, just two points behind Norway.

Cowie said the trio were "ecstatic" to have qualified for the match racing in such a high position.

"We wouldn't have thought that three months ago," he said.

They had failed to get into the second stage in the pre-Olympic regatta in Sydney 12 months ago, so making it this time was a priority.

Under the match-racing format, the New Zealanders are not required again until next week.

They, along with Norway and the Netherlands, will go into a six-strong quarter-final round-robin next Tuesday and Wednesday, from which the top four will fight out the medals.

Kendall opened the day with a seventh, which she was able to discard, before scoring an all-the-way win in the day's second race.

The victory was her first of the regatta, but the two sailors above her, German Amelie Lux and Italian Alessandra Sensini, also got good results, leaving the Aucklander four points behind leader Lux.

With five races to go, the top three have opened a significant gap over the rest, suggesting that the medals will be fought out among them.

McIntosh continued his steady form since an opening race disqualification for beating the start gun with a ninth and a third, which was his best finish so far.

The three-time world champion jumped from mid-fleet to be just a point behind third-placed Australian Lars Kleppich. Austrian Christoph Sieber had his third win of the week to remain in top spot.

In the 49ers, Daniel Slater and Nathan Handley were back in 14th overall after a disqualification (for starting early), a fifth and a 12th. In the last race, they capsized when a helicopter hovered too low above them.

Six other New Zealand sailors made their Olympic debuts with mixed results after two races.

The women's 470 crew of Melinda Henshaw and Jenny Egnot were ninth overall, helped by a third in their second race, while the men's 470 combination of Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas were 11th overall.

Laser sailor Peter Fox was 15th overall.

- NZPA