Yachting: Victory signals Beijing berth for star sailors

Next stop Beijing and the 2008 Olympics - yesterday's Star class world championship win by Hamish Pepper and Carl "Tiny" Williams in San Francisco continues the resurgence of New Zealand yachting.

An eighth placing in the final of six races was enough to carry Pepper - the former Team New Zealand America's Cup tactician, now racing for Oracle - and Williams to the title. Their win means virtual automatic selection for Beijing and the sixth placing by little-known pairing Rohan Lord and Miles Addy puts them into Olympic consideration.

Pepper and Williams started the final race with seven points on Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada. Scheidt won Olympic gold in the Laser class in Athens 2004 and Atlanta 1996, plus silver in Sydney in 2000. He holds many Star world championship titles. The field had 20 sailors with world championship wins and 10 Olympic medals.

Pre-series favourites Frederik Loof and Anders Elkstrom (Sweden) won the final race, with the fast-finishing Frenchmen Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau coming home third.

The pairing of Lord and Addy has rocketed up the world rankings.

They finished tied for fifth with the Swedes but had to settle for sixth place after the Scandinavians won the final race.

Yachting New Zealand views a top 10 finish as a prerequisite for Olympic selection and, providing they do well next year, Lord and Addy should be part of a two-boat Star campaign in Beijing.