Boardsailing: Will the next Barbara Kendall please rise

The national Mistral championships in Takapuna this weekend could be the first step in finding a successor to Olympic legend Barbara Kendall should she chose to retire from the sport.

Kendall, who won Olympic gold in 1992, silver in 1996 and a bronze in 2000, finished a disappointing fifth at Athens last year.

The 37-year-old, who will not compete in this weekend's nationals, has said she will wait until she has tried out the new Pryde RSX board, which is replacing the Mistral board at the next Olympics, before making a decision on her future.

The board is shorter, wider and slightly lighter than the Mistral.

National coach Paul Page doesn't believe Kendall will have any trouble adapting to the new board but he can't see her competing in Beijing in 2008.

"The reality is she probably won't be at the next one. She can't be. At 40 it is impossible."

Which raises the question of who is there to follow in Kendall's footsteps?

There's no shortage of male New Zealand boardsailors. In the recent Sail Melbourne regatta, five New Zealanders took part. Two finished in the top 10 and the other three in the top 15.

Page concedes women's boardsailing has been a bit "neglected" in recent years.

"Everyone looked at Barbara and thought she would be there till she was 100," he said.

"I have started recruiting young girls, basically, which sounds a bit sad, but it just had to happen because there is no structure in the clubs.

"So the scheme is now to make sure that the clubs start bringing on windsurfing just like they bring on Starling sailing.

"We have a lot of young new girls coming on ... 14 and 15 year olds. That is not a four-year programme, it is an eight-year programme.

"Within four years I hope one of them wins the youth worlds. That's my goal, and then from there they will become top sailors."

While there is a lot of sea between Kendall and the next tier down, New Zealand's next best are probably Aucklanders Anna Eason, Hayley Thom, Sheena McKinnon, Steffanie Williams and Louise Wilkinson.

"All of these girls have potential but whether they have the ability you don't know until another couple of years," Page said.

"All you look for - and it is the same with the boys - is just a little bit of toughness."

Page said the plan is to get the younger sailors to international youth events and the senior sailors used to the new board.

Some of the top men sailors have been experimenting with the Formula board, which is similar to the Pryde RSX board, although theoretically the new board is somewhere between the Mistral and Formula.

It has been suggested the new board, availability of which will be known next month, will suit slightly bigger athletes.

"We don't know that for sure," Page said.

"But we do know that you will need to be stronger, so the sailors are on strength programmes at the moment rather than a weight gain programme."

The national championships start off the Takapuna Boating Club today.

Eleven races are scheduled over the three days.

Racing starts daily at noon.