Yachting: Starting over on new sailboards

Olympic hopefuls Mathew McCormick (left) with the old-style Mistral board and Jon-Paul Tobin on the new RS:X board. Picture / Dean Purcell

Having tested the new Olympic board, Jon-Paul Tobin reckons he is in for some long hours at the gym.

Tobin is the first New Zealander to trial the new RS:X board which replaces the Mistral board used at the last three Olympics.

The board, designed by Hong Kong-based New Zealander Neil Pryde, beat off six other designs late last year to win approval from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) to succeed the Mistral.

"The old board had sort of lost its cool factor," Tobin said.

"The RS:X looks the part. The whole appearance looks superb."

The new board differs significantly from the old one. It is basically shorter and fatter and has a slightly bigger rig and sail area.

Tobin, who along with Thomas Ashley and David Robertson make up New Zealand's elite group of male boardsailors, received the RS:X board last week and has put it through its paces in a variety of conditions off Takapuna.

Although the new board is the same weight as the Mistral, it is close to 1m shorter.

Trialing it against the old board, Tobin's general observations have been that the new board is similar in speed, if not a little slower, than the Mistral in winds 10 knots and under. But the RS:X leaves the Mistral for dead in the heavier conditions.

"What I have noticed is, physically, it is going to be a lot more brutal. It is more demanding because the rig is bigger and the board and everything is more powerful ... which means you are pulling a bigger weight when you pump.

"It requires you to be a pumping machine even more than we already are, so you are going to have to be a lot stronger."

With the conditions expected to be light in the 2008 Games in Beijing, Tobin is not convinced the location was the best place for the board to make its Olympic debut. But there is little that can be done about it.

"My whole programme over the next three years will be based around light wind conditions, so I am going to spend as much time as I can in those conditions. ... which is fine, but it is not as much fun, of course. But everyone is in the same boat, or same board, so to speak," Tobin said.

New Zealand boardsailing ace Barbara Kendall, who has just given birth to her second child, has said she will trial the board before she makes a decision on whether she will continue in the sport at Olympic level.

New Zealand's next tier of women boardsailors - Aucklanders Anna Eason, Hayley Thom, Sheena McKinnon, Steffanie Williams and Louise Wilkinson - are all waiting to trial the board, 30 of which are expected here by Christmas.

While it doesn't come into effect on the international circuit until next year, Tobin has a busy few months ahead.

Having missed out to Ashley in claiming the Athens spot, Tobin says he is more determined than ever to compete in Beijing in three years' time.

Tobin was the top New Zealand performer internationally leading up the last Olympics but was beaten by Ashley in the New Zealand trials.

"I think as a year that was pretty tough," said. "As the saying goes, if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger. I have definitely got some unfinished business to take care of."

He will spend most of next month in Beijing, testing out the sailing venue and training with the Chinese team. The first regatta involving the new board is an invitational event just south of Beijing in September. The first major event is in Spain in November.

The introduction of the new board is almost a turning point for New Zealand yachties, who up until the last Olympics have had a good run on the Mistral board.

"It is a radical change and we have got to be at the forefront of that," Tobin said.

"When they first got the Mistral it was the New Zealanders Bruce and Barbara [Kendall] and Aaron [McIntosh] who showed everyone how to sail it. We have to continue on with that with this board."

* MISTRAL

Length: 372cm
Sail area: 7.4 sq m
Weight: 15kg
Mast: 4.9m

* RS:X

Length 286cm
Max Width: 93cm
Weight: 15.5kg
Sail area: 8.5 sq m for women, 9.5 sq m for men
Mast: 5.2m