Sailing: NZ sailors off to flying start

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Olympic sailing veteran Rod Davis was blaming his new bowman yesterday for his worst start in a Games regatta.

But coming third is nothing to be kicked off the boat for.

It was a stirring start for the New Zealand Soling crew, who held it together as the fleet flounced around in the flighty breeze.

Fleet racing is generally not the Kiwis' forte.

Davis and Don Cowie have never finished worse than second in the opening race of an Olympics - in 1992 they went on to win silver in the two-man Star.

Now they have moved into a bigger boat, and taken on an extra man in Alan Smith, who helped Davis and Cowie coach the Prada crew in the last America's Cup.

"We're giving Alan a hard time because he's the only thing we've changed," Davis quipped.

This is Davis' fourth Olympics. He won gold in the Soling for the United States 16 years ago.

Another sailing legend was making a grand debut Olympic performance yesterday.

Chris Dickson has never sailed at a Games before, but you would not have guessed it from the way he and crewman Glen Sowry raced around Sydney Harbour in their mighty catamaran.

At the end of the day, Dickson and Sowry - comfortably the oldest crew in the Olympic Tornado fleet - were also in third place.

The often steely-eyed Dickson was grinning as he came ashore, before having to rush off to a routine drugs test.

"Don't bet on us yet, but we are right up there. We've improved so much," he said.

Dickson and Sowry, a round-the-world veteran, have been sailing together for only six months.

Their best result was a seventh at a regatta in Europe.

But since they have arrived in Sydney, the pair have eeked out more speed from their cat.

"We're quicker now than we have ever been," Dickson said. "Today we had good boat speed upwind and down.

"All of the training we've done with the other teams here obviously has paid off."

Both the Tornado and Soling fleets waited four hours outside Sydney Heads yesterday for the wind to crank up, but the best they got was around six knots.

Dickson and Sowry were fifth in the opening race, dominated by Australian stars Darren Bundock and John Forbes.

Their radical boat was outlawed before racing began.

The Kiwis led all the way up the first leg in the long second race, but were pipped by Austrians Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinhacher, who now lead the competition.

Dickson described their placings as "keepers" - results the Kiwis probably won't discard at the end of the regatta.

In the Soling fleet, Davis and company trail Dutch round-the-world skipper Roy Heiner and the Russian crew, led by Georgy Shayduko, silver medallist in Savannah four years ago.

There must have been some satisfaction for the Kiwis in finishing ahead of the United States crew, who are coached by defected Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts.

After six fleet races, the 16-boat fleet will be sliced to 12 for the matchracing side of the regatta, where America's Cup helmsman Davis is expected to really shine.

The lightning-quick 49er skiff makes its first Olympic appearance today, with Daniel Slater and Nathan Handley flying the New Zealand flag as their spinnaker.