Boardsailing: Olympic sailors sweep the boards in Sydney

By EUGENE BINGHAM

SYDNEY - New Zealand boardsailing's dynamic duo zipped ahead of their likely gold medal contenders in a crucial Olympic build-up on Sydney Harbour yesterday.

Aaron McIntosh led the men's division throughout while Barbara Kendall had to wait until after her last race to learn she had won, pipping a fast-improving American rival.

Kendall adopted a relaxed attitude to beat the pressure in her final race, squeezing out American Lanee Butler who looked certain to be a surprise winner of the Mistral Oceanic championship regatta.

"In that last race I started to feel normal again," said Kendall, the 1992 Olympic gold medallist.

"I started to relax with it a little bit."

Her win ended Butler's dream run, though Kendall was left with a serious reminder challengers for next month's Olympic title could come from anywhere.

"There's more in the game than what I thought. [Butler] has not been sailing well in the last two years at all but she has obviously been doing something right."

Both men's and women's fields were stacked with the world's top sailors.

Kendall fended off Hong Kong's defending Olympic champion Lai Shan Lee and Polish medal contender Anna Galecka for her victory while McIntosh faced great Australian hope Lars Kleppich.

In the end, though, Sydneysider Kleppich had a disappointing last day, while McIntosh maintained consistent form.

The former two-time world champion showed superb speed and a knowledge of the conditions in the first race of the day with a come-from-behind victory.

After a slow start, McIntosh latched on to a wind change and whipped past the field.

As breathtaking as it was, McIntosh's feat was a vivid display of what conditions lie ahead on the sailing courses for next month's Games.

Kendall said everybody was aware of Sydney's fickle winds, knowing the importance of picking the puffs of breeze.

"The winds are shifty - a lot like sailing in Auckland," she said. "When you go from last to first, you can't get too excited or too upset. If you just miss one shift, that's it."

McIntosh declined interviews afterwards, having taken up a self-imposed pre-Olympic media ban. But Olympic sailing team manager Russell Green said McIntosh was happy with his progress.

"It's just a step along the way but he is reasonably happy and focused," said Green. "He's got good speed and he's certainly been sailing well in the puffy breezes."

The high standards of the fields provided a good indicator of what lay ahead.

"What it has shown is that it is going to be tight and medals will be decided on who handles the pressure most."

Yesterday's racing took place away from the Olympic course after several near misses with ferries on Saturday.

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