Windsurfing: Freaky breeze spares Kendall

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

In windsurfing language, Barbara Kendall was stoked when her race was blown up yesterday.

The two-time Olympic boardsailing medallist thought she had blown it crossing the start-line early, so she turned back and started again - afraid she would be disqualified.

She was frantically pumping her sail to get back in touch with the fleet - like a just-hatched butterfly discovering its wings - when the race was abandoned as the breeze once again petered out.

As it turned out, she had not been over early in the first place.

Kendall was doubly relieved when the gun fired - she did not want a bad result next to her name, and she did not want to put her aching arms under any more stress.

"I'm spending three hours a night on the massage table," she said. "It's just so physically exhausting in these light airs.

"My body is falling apart."

Before her faux pas, Kendall was having a pretty good day. She was third again - behind the same old sailors, tiny German Amelie Lux and 1996 bronze medallist Alessandra Sensini of Italy.

At the end of the day, the overall standings were exactly the same and the trio are now pulling away from the rest of the fleet.

If the freaky light winds continue through until the end of the week, this could be the ball game.

"It's really, really hard work out there. The German girl is 8kg lighter than me, and the Italian is probably a bit stronger than I am," Kendall said.

"But I'm doing everything right and I'm really happy where I'm at."

With seven races still to go, Lux knew nothing had been decided.

"What I've been doing is just to try to relax and go for it."

But New Zealand coach Grant Beck was not such a happy man. He would rather not have seen any boardsailing races yesterday.

"The race committee were pushing the odds starting the race at all," he said. "Out on the Tornado course they realised the winds weren't strong enough and they made the right decision not to start.

"Fortunately both of our boardsailors did okay out there."

But how okay is Aaron McIntosh?

The three-time world champion survived yet another bad start in his one and only race yesterday, to keep his place in the middle group of the Olympic fleet.

After four races he is 14th - yet to drop the first-day disqualification from his tally.

Yesterday, he got caught in the gridlock at the startline, and in the melee was forced on to the wrong side of the course.

But in an impressive final leg he scrambled his way up to a half-respectable 11th. Remarkably, the two pre-race favourites - McIntosh and Australian world No 1 Lars Kleppich - sit together mid-fleet, 40 points behind Spanish hope Carlos Espinola.

Last night the trans-tasman buddies successfully joined forces to protest against yesterday's race winner, China's Yuanguo Zhou.

They claimed he talked to his coach and handed over gear after the final warning signal, and wanted him disqualified.

They were successful and moved up a place in that race, but it does not affect McIntosh's overall position.