Yachting: Kiwis way out in front in Miami

Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams have a convincing lead after the opening day of the North American Star Yachting Championships in Miami.

In a 77-strong fleet the New Zealanders won the first two races in the six-race series, giving them a comfortable lead over the second-placed Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (France) and third-placed Ross MacDonald and Mike Wolfs (Canada).

In other yachting news yesterday, the Ericsson Racing Team announced that American John Kostecki will skipper its boat in the 2008 Volvo round-the-world epic.

Argentinian Juan Kouyoumdjian will design the boat, to be built in Sweden next year. He designed ABN Amro One in which New Zealander Mike Sanderson won this year's race.