Rowing: NZ team happy with Athens wind conditions

1.00pm

ATHENS - The wind's a breeze and the pods are legal, bringing smiles to the New Zealand Olympic rowing team here today.

After nearly two months of preparation in Belgium, all 11 rowers hit the water at the controversial Schinias course for the first time, completing a morning and afternoon session.

They were heartened to find just a moderate breeze in their 8am session rather than the strong winds that were anticipated and which caused several crews to capsize at the world junior championships at this time last year.

And the pods attached to boats to counter choppy water have been ruled legitimate.

Rowing New Zealand chief executive Craig Ross arrived late last week and said the wind had never risen beyond steady in three days of monitoring.

"The locals do tell us that the winds which were here last August have dissipated. They already experienced them last month," Ross told NZPA.

"Certainly the morning isn't too bad. The breeze does get up in the afternoons but that's to be expected."

Ross doubted organisers would need to resort to some of the possible fallback options available if the wind became too disruptive. They included turning all races into time trials, featuring one boat at a time, or halving the race distances to 1000m.

However, he said the start time of each session could yet be brought forward from the scheduled 8.30am, to as early as 6am if necessary.

"I think (world governing body) Fisa have done a very good in ensuring the programme can be altered to get through it. They understand that to a certain extent the ground may have to shift."

Either way, the wind will still play a role in the regatta, which starts on Saturday in a much-anticipated session featuring all five New Zealand crews.

Although the prevailing "Meltemia" wind is a tailwind, they encountered headwinds when setting up the boats on arrival yesterday and sidewinds on the water today.

The wind direction and strength would impact on New Zealand's use of their pod bow attachments, developed to deflect choppy water.

The pods were officially cleared as legal by Fisa executive director Matt Smith before the team arrived in Athens.

Ross said all the crews, including women's double scull favourites Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, were prepared to use the innovative device which is designed to deflect choppy water away from the cockpit of the boat.

"Over the next couple of days at training, they'll get a feel whether the pods provide some advantage," Ross said.

"I don't know what other countries are doing in respect to pods but we've done our homework and we feel that we have enough knowledge about them and that they will benefit our crews."

They tested the pods extensively during windy training days at Hazewinkel and used them in their last regatta at Amsterdam five weeks ago.

- NZPA