Yachting: Regatta providing a prologue to Olympics

Takapuna's Tom Ashley sailing in the RS:X 9.5. Photo / Greg Bowker

The battle off Takapuna in the Laser fleet at this week's Sail Auckland regatta is providing an interesting prologue to the dogfight for Olympic selection which is set to play out over the next 12 months.

The action in the highly competitive class again proved a must-watch on day two of the regatta, with the only lead change from the opening day occurring in the Laser fleet.

Kiwi number one Andrew Murdoch leapfrogged local rival Mike Bullot into first place with a 3-2-1 scorecard yesterday, but the margin remains close, with just two points separating the pair heading into today's penultimate day of racing.

The two experienced Laser campaigners are favoured to nab the sole spot in next year's London Games, but as well as battling it out with each other, they also need to keep an eye on a trio of youngsters in the New Zealand squad - Josh Junior, Andy Maloney and Sam Meech - all of whom have produced impressive results in the last year.

None of the trio is in a strong place to threaten the lead over the weekend, with two of the visiting Australian squad - Tom Burton and Ryan Palk - sitting in third and fourth respectively. But with such a high-quality fleet, any of the top seven or eight are capable of stealing a race win, making for exciting racing and an ever-changing leaderboard.

Bullot said with such an important year ahead he is enjoying the tense competition on his home patch.

"The racing is just so close, there are three Aussies over here as well, so pretty much every race you're just fighting to the death," he said.

Despite slipping back to second place after leading the first day, Bullot said he was happy with the way he dealt with the challenging conditions, returning to shore with a 2-1-4 from his three races.

"It was shifty, very shifty, when it comes off the land on the westerly it can swing from the left to the right, but in saying that I was pretty happy with the way I handled it. I was pretty conservative in my approach and I got some good results."

The competition was just as tight in the men's RS:X fleet.

Just three points separate the top four competitors with Tom Ashley (7) leading, Dorian van Rijsselberge (8) in second and Takapuna's Antonio Cozzolino tied with Jon-Paul Tobin in third on 10 points.

Tobin, who plans to have another crack at trying to qualify for the Olympics, had a sluggish start to the regatta on Thursday but recovered well yesterday, winning the opening race of the day after a thrilling battle with Ashley.

Tobin followed up his opening win with a second placing in race four and a fourth in the final race of the day to grab a more secure foothold in the regatta standings.

In the women's RS:X fleet, Kate Ellingham has held on to her lead with two wins and a second placing on day two, but former Polish youth sailor Natalia Kosinska is hard on her heels, just two points further back.

Dan Slater continues to lead the way in the Finn fleet after another day of virtually flawless racing. The only blip on his record was a second placing in the opening race, but he made up for it later in the day, winning the final two races.