Yachting: broken mast a blessing

by SUZANNE McFADDEN

Believe it or not, Olympic boardsailing medal contender Aaron McIntosh is grateful his training buddy Jon-Paul Tobin snapped his world-beating mast beyond repair.

The special mast, which has helped McIntosh win two world championships, broke when Tobin borrowed it for the European championships in Spain this week.

But rather than lose his cool, McIntosh saw it as a blessing in disguise: "I was about to put that mast away for the Olympics. I'm just so thankful that it happened now and not at the Games - four years would have gone down the tubes."

McIntosh, who won the European title, is home in Auckland for a week before moving to live in Sydney in the buildup to September.

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