KEY POINTS:
The breeze may be light but the competition for podium places will be stiff at the RS:X World Championships starting off Takapuna tomorrow.
With many of the top sailors peaking ahead of this year's Olympic regatta, the worlds are expected to be one of the most competitive in recent years, according to the secretary of the International RS:X class, Rory Ramsden.
"It's going to be a full-on, highly competitive event," he said.
New Zealand's Tom Ashley, racing in his home regatta, is shaping up as one of the top contenders in the men's fleet. Ashley, a three-time youth world champion, had an impressive 2007 - his best result being gold at the pre-Olympics regatta in Qingdao.
But he will meet strong opposition from the likes of defending world champion Ricardo Santos of Brazil and Israel's Gal Fridman, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist.
England's Nick Dempsey and Frenchman Julien Bontemps are also tipped to be top contenders, while the Polish team are looking strong.
Ramsden believes the race for the world title is wide open.
"Anyone in the gold fleet on their day can win the race. The big game, as always, is consistency."
At the front of the women's fleet the competition is set to be just as intense.
As has been the case in any international event for the past decade and a half, local hope Barbara Kendall is one of the frontrunners. However there are a couple of other veterans in the field that are also in with a good title chance.
Italy's Alessandra Sensini - like Kendall a three-time Olympic medallist - is highly fancied, while Faustine Merret of France, who won gold at the Athens Olympics, is also a threat.
But Ramsden warns there could be a changing of the guard, with a new group of young boardsailors coming through, led by defending world champ Zofia Klepacka of Poland.
"There is a lot of young blood coming through and for many of them their wildest dreams are to beat the more established sailors like Kendall and Sensini," he said.
"The colours will eventually have to be passed on but the older sailors are certainly not going to give up without a fight."
Ramsden believes that in high pressure situations, experience usually wins out over youth.
"If there's breeze they've been there, done that before and experience could well make the difference."
But the wind in Takapuna over the next week is forecast to be a lot lighter than what is typical.
The breeze on the course over the past few days has been at around 8-10 knots.
Organisers hoped the wind would be consistently in double figures for the regatta.
The interest in the regatta has been heightened by the fact that for many competing countries it will double as an Olympic trial.
With 25 per cent of places at the Beijing Games still up for grabs, 21 countries are chasing nine spots in the men's fleet, while in the women's 13 nations are vying for the seven remaining places.
But further down the fleet, because the top countries have already qualified for the Olympics, the regatta would be all the more competitive.
"The competition for those places is intense and will go right down throughout the whole fleet,"said Ramsden. "And of course each nation has to select its own representative for the Olympics so there's competition within each team for that slot. There are games within games within games here."
THE BIG ONE
* Off Takapuna Beach
* Tomorrow to January 19, racing from noon
