KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Yachting team will leave Qingdao wiser about the fickle conditions the Olympic venue is likely to present next year and content they are on track for their target of two medals.
Tom Ashley won the men's RS:X and Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams finished second in the Star class in the Olympic warm-up regatta which concluded in China overnight.
New Zealand were also in with a chance of adding to their medal tally with Laser Radial sailor Jo Aleh, who was sitting in second, and laser sailor Andrew Murdoch, who was fifth, competing in their final medal races last night.
For Ashley, who won the final medal race, the win tops off what has been a successful few months.
"I'm stoked to pull off this win as I have been aiming at a victory in the Pre-Olympics all year," Ashley said.
"This event caps off a fantastic season, with wins in four out of the five competitions I have sailed. I'm now planning a rest for a couple of weeks before starting my preparation for the 2008 Worlds in Auckland."
In the Star, Pepper and Williams finished the regatta four points behind the Brazilian combination of Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.
"We're happy to take home the silver medal. We learned a lot about the venue during this regatta, and will be much better prepared for next year," Pepper said.
Barbara Kendall put in a gutsy performance to win the medal race in the women's RS:X which lifted her from eighth to sixth overall. Carl Evans and Peter Burling were ninth in the men's 470 class.
Former Team New Zealand sailor Ben Ainslie (Britain) won the Finn class; Kiwi Dan Slater was seventh.
Yachting New Zealand's Olympic coaching director Rod Davis said the New Zealand team used the regatta as a dress rehearsal for next year's Games where they are aiming for at least two medals.
"We wanted to learn lessons we can apply at the Olympic Games. Our goal at the Olympic Games is two medals and that would continue to be our goal. We have done better than what we planned ... but the Olympic Games are a different event."
Qingdao didn't put on its best performance with the earlier part of the regatta plagued with light winds and strong tides. Davis acknowledged the conditions weren't the easiest but said the competitors just had to make the best of them.
"You can sit here and worry about it and complain or you can get on with it and do a better job than your competitors. "
New Zealand has qualified in eight of the 11 classes for next year's Olympics. Yachting New Zealand have already nominated Kendall, Murdoch, Slater and Aleh. Trials will be held in the New Year to determine competitors in other classes.* The New York Supreme Court has granted an order sought by the Golden Gate Yacht Club requiring the Societe Nautique de Geneve to promptly answer a request to speed up the legal process for resolving its proposed new rules for the next America's Cup. Golden Gate is alleging Nautique de Geneve is in serious breach of the Deed of Gift that governs the Cup. It says the Swiss yacht club has accepted an invalid challenge from a sham yacht club (the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela), and is seeking to impose an unprecedented one-sided set of rules that hugely favour the defender to the detriment of all other competitors. The case could be heard as early as October.
