Sailing: Testing times among the Solings

New Zealand's Soling crew believe the battle for a place in the semifinals is wide open, but are wary of the teams still in contention at the Olympic Games yachting regatta.

Skipper Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith return to competition on Tuesday from a five-day break after qualifying from the fleet racing phase in second spot.

They were among three crews to go straight into the six-boat quarterfinal round-robin, from which the top four will go on to compete in the knockout semifinals on Friday.

Smith said the quality of the opposition ensured there would be no over-confidence on the part of the New Zealanders.

``They're all tough, these guys,'' he said.

``You've got the gold medallists from the last three Olympics and others who are pretty flash. Having said that, anyone can win out there.''

The field includes the world's first and second-ranked Soling crews.

The world No 1 Germans, skippered by Jochen Schuemann, did it the hard way in getting into the last six. At one point, they were in danger of missing the match racing phase, and then qualified for the quarterfinals on countback.

Schuemann, who has acknowledged the difficulties posed by Sydney's patchy conditions, is bidding for his fourth gold medal. He won the Finn class in 1976 and followed up with the Soling title in 1988 and 1996.

The Danes, ranked second in the world, are led by 1992 Olympic Soling champion Jesper Bank.

Russia, skippered by Atlanta silver medallist Georgy Shayduko, the Netherlands and top qualifiers Norway make up the pool.

After a day off following the fleet racing, Davis and his crew have been back out on the water each day.

They practised against the Norwegians at the weekend and had some formal race training against the Dutch on Monday.

``When we came back out last Friday we were bloody useless,'' Smith said.

``We started to pick it up from there and we should be good enough to sail as well as we can tomorrow.

``While the fleet racing was held outside the harbour in the Tasman Sea, the match racing in taking place off downtown Sydney in the shadow of the Sydney Opera House.

Smith said the location would make for ``pretty tricky'' racing, with the current and tide playing their part.

``And any time the wind is from the south (the city side), there's going to be huge shifts,'' he said.

``It gets dumped off the buildings and you can't actually see it coming along the water. It's unfair, but it's unfair for everybody.''

Smith said the New Zealanders were unconcerned at the predominantly light conditions that had been a feature of the regatta so far.

They were reasonably comfortable with their boat speed whether there was a lot of breeze or not.

If it remained light, the result would probably be a looser style of match racing, with boats going off in search of puffs of wind, rather than necessarily staying tight on the opposition.

``The light stuff is a bit more fluky and you'll probably split a little more from the other guys,'' he said.

``You might back your judgment and do well one time, but get hammered the next, so there'll probably be big changes in lead and distance.''

While Davis and Cowie are previous medal winners - one of Davis' medals was a Soling gold for the United States in 1984 - Smith is at his first Olympics.

``It has been fun and great to be part of,'' he said. ''It's a great atmosphere and village life is pretty full.''

- NZPA