KEY POINTS:
Barbara Kendall used to follow her big brother, chasing him around the boardsailing circuit, but these days Bruce would like to emulate little sis.
The first goal for 43-year-old Bruce is to qualify and earn selection for the Beijing Olympics just like Barbara, who has qualified for her fifth Games. But chances of him doing that in the multi-hulled Tornado class are slim.
"I don't know how we [he and Blair Tuke] will go at all," says Bruce, who won gold and bronze in boardsailing at two Olympics in the 1980s. "It would be nice to finish well enough to qualify but it's going to be very tough. It's a bit of an Everest of a challenge."
In fact, the mountain any New Zealand crew needs to climb to qualify for China could be too high to scale.
The Tornado world championships starting off Takapuna Beach next weekend are the last chance for a New Zealand team to qualify - and then they need to convince the selectors they are a realistic medal chance by producing good results in other events, like this weekend's Sail Auckland regatta.
Four spots remain in the Tornado class but three are expected to be taken by two-time Olympic champions Austria, Canada and Russia. New Zealand appear to be in a race for the last spot with Puerto Rico, Denmark, Ukraine and Poland.
The New Zealand crews are made up of some of the country's pre-eminent sailors.
Kendall has teamed up with talented youngster and former Splash world champion Tuke, three-time world boardsailing champion and Olympic bronze medallist Aaron McIntosh will join Mark Kennedy, while 57-year-old Rex Sellers has been convinced by his son Brett to jump into the Tornado again to try to qualify for his fifth Olympics.
For McIntosh, this is the second time he has tried to qualify in the Tornado and it could well be his last.
London Olympics organisers have already said the multihull will be axed from the programme for 2012, a decision which has drawn widespread criticism from Tornado sailors.
"I believe this is my last Olympic campaign, unless something falls out of the sky in the next four years," McIntosh said. "Olympic sailing has been brilliant for me but the financial rewards are limited. Even when you're at the top of New Zealand sailing, you barely make a living. After 20 years, it's probably time to hang up my boots."
McIntosh has offers to coach sailors from a number of countries at Beijing but will make no commitment until after the world championships.
He initially hoped he would go to China with Kendall, after they teamed up in 2006. After a series of poor results meant they were cut from the New Zealand Olympic squad, and funding dried up, McIntosh realised he couldn't continue.
Kendall then joined Brett Sellers, and the pair finished 27th at last year's world championships in Portugal. A back injury forced Kendall out for a time until he decided to partner Tuke but he's realistic about their chances in the next fortnight.
"Blair and I have been sailing together for just over a week," he says. "A lot of teams have been sailing together for years and are funded by their national associations. I had to earn enough money over the last month from coaching just to compete."
Whatever happens in the next fortnight, a few old dogs will be enjoying themselves, even if they're not at the head of the fleet.
