Sailors Rohan Lord and Andrew Taylor today made a solid start to their bid to qualify New Zealand for the Star event at the Athens Olympics.
Lord and Taylor were 11th in the opening race of the world championships at Gaeta in Italy.
The six-race series, featuring a 118-strong fleet, is thelast qualifying regatta for the class.
Four spots remain open for Athens, with New Zealand lying third among the nations still needing to qualify.
At Hyeres in France, there were also solid performances from New Zealand's Olympic hopefuls in a variety of classes.
Boardsailor Tom Ashley and Laser specialist Hamish Pepper, both nominated for the New Zealand Olympic team, were fourth and fifth respectively after the first day of racing.
Fellow nominee Sarah Macky was 47th after race one in the Europe fleet.
In the men's 470, Simon Cooke and Alastair Gair were 10th after two races, ahead of Olympic nominees Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt in 22nd spot.
In the women's 470, where nomination for the New Zealand team remains open, Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson were third after two races, ahead of the more favoured pairing of Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer in 14th.
In the Finn class, Clifton Webb heads the New Zealand contingent with a 24th placing in race one. Dean Barker was 30th and Peter Fox 33rd.
