Sports features Successes in Europe bode well for New Zealand yachting

Press, 31 October 1979, Page 26

Sports features Successes in Europe bode well for New Zealand yachting

| The imposing list of I achievements by New Zealand yachtsmen in world and international events during the last few months has served to further increase interest in what promises to be an enthralling series of Olym- . pic Games trials later this | summer. Indeed, yachting enthusiasts in this country might come to regard the 19«0s as an era to be recorded with enthusiasm and later recalled with considerable pride. In spite of the inevitable difficulties of competing out of season, at unfamiliar venues, often in borrowed boats and with I financial worries never far I from their thoughts. New Zealand’s representatives ■ again proved themselves to be among the most skilled centre-board crews in the sport. Their efforts have largely gone unrecognised — that is ' proved by omission yet again from the finalists in the Row incorrectlynamed New Zealand “Sportsman of the Year” competition — because of i their isolation from hews I sources which serve this part of the world. The Olympic divisions inevitably take pride of place and New Zealand must be regarded as a distinct medal prospect in the 470, Tornado and Flying Dutchman classes. There is sufficient experience and depth in the Finn fleet, too, to bring it into the reckoning, and only the three-man Soling class seems to be out of the running. Murray. Thom. Alan Robinson and Peter Jordan had a distressing series of mishaps in their Soling at the pre-Olympic regatta at Tallinn, and a vast improvement on their twenty-ninth would be required to justify a Games nomination.

It was also disappointing that Tom Dodson could finish no higher than twenty-sixth among the Finn helmsmen in the waters off Estonia. But Dodson, a surprise winner of the contest held to select the national squad earlier this year, is still relatively inexperienced and should have benefited from his travels.

However, the Finn position in the Olympic team is certain to be one of the most keenly' sought. Tom Dodson will again be in the trials, and so will his brother, Richard, the present world O.K. dinghy champion.

Peter Lester, one of only two other New Zealanders to have held the world 0.. K title, began the Finn Gold Cup series in England with an encouraging third, before slipping back in the fleet. The dedication and zeal which are so much part of Lester's yachting make-up must take him near the top of the trials points table. But the veteran of Olympic monotype racing. Jonty Farmer — eighth at

Mexico, reserve to Bret de Thier at Kiel, fifteenth at Kingston (Canada) — will, as always, be a severe threat to his younger rivals. Stamina will be one of the most important assets for the Finn skippers. Not for them the basic series of trials — the nucleus of the Olympic squad will be found qt Auckland in midMarch —- for the winner is to be the best-per-formed entrant in both the Pacific Finn Cup and World Finn Gold Cup events, both at Auckland, in February.

New Zealand's Tornado catamaran crews also face a world championshp in home waters, and it would be surprising if the marked advances of recent years do not continue. De Thier and Steve Moffat, of Canterbury, made a significant breakthrough when they won the Tornado section of the famous Kiel Week regatta last (southern) winter. Their eleventh at world level was commendable, if frustrating because of the niggling gear problems in their chartered craft. But de Thier and Moffat have a difficult passage

By

JOHN COFFEY

ahead of them even in domestic sailing. They must first gain the upper hand over Rex Sellers and Gerald Sly, who were seventh in the august company of the pre-Olympic fleet at Tallinn.

If Jock Bilger and Murray Ross have not yet managed to carry into Olympic competition the form that has twice boosted them to the run-ner-up roles in world contests, they will still have the full respect of their opponents should the Flying Dutchman nomination again be accorded them. Bilger and Ross resumed their partnership last season after a break which allowed the Napier pair, Gary Wiig and Lasse Ressen, to win three consecutive national titles. But Bilger and Ross earned the right to com-

pete at Tallinn, and an eighth placing was more than encouraging. The 470 class, of all the Olympic designs, should attract most attention, though, in the light of the triumphant victory by Mark Paterson and David Mackay in the pre-Games series. That effort was worthy of an Olympic gold medal by every criterion except one — it happened 12 months too soon. Paterson, it might be remembered, and his previous for’ard hand, Brett Bennett, led the Olympic fleet at Kingston on the eve of the final heat. A

disastrous eighteenth in that race transformed gold to gloom, and they had to be content with a still most creditable fifth. Such are the variables of yachting that Paterson and Mackay, presently rated as the best 470 crew' in the world, were only third behind Murray Jones and Andy Knowles and Paul Francis and Sean Reeves in the 1978-79 New Zealand championship.

Jones and Knowles, the 1978 European titlewinners, added to their proud record by claiming the 470 honours at the Travemunde international Olympic regatta in the last northern season, and Francis will have the assistance of Kevin Welsh in the trials. These established 470 yachtsmen must be eyeing

with some concern the ra pid development of 17-vear-old Chris Dickson, who recently won his second world youth championship in the 420 class. His first success was with Mackay, now Patersons right-hand man. and he completed the double with Hamish Willcox. Taking the step to open competition in their stride. Dickson and Willcox were subsequently third in the world 420 series in Portugal. They should make a considerable impact when

they turn their attention to the 470 division. While the 1980 Olympics must be the first prime target of this country's yachtsmen, there is more than a hint that New Zealanders will remain promi-

nent for quite some time in tite future. Dickson and Willcox’s victory in the crewed d vision, and rhe second placing of an illness-affect-ed Russell Coutts in the monotype series, made New Zealand the most successful nation at the world youth championships The accomplishments of Richard Dodson must have shaken the confidence of the Europeans and Scandinavians who once domin ated world O.K dinghy affairs. Dodson not only succeeded the late Clive Roberts and Lester as world champion, but he had » margin of 28 points to spare over the next best of his 80 rivals, and he gained line honours in the final heat by an amazing 7min. On his way to that triumph. Dodson humbled fleets of some quality by winning the German and Danish championships and the Kiel Week title His Olympic aspirations will be in the Finn class. If it promises to be » quiet yachting season in Canterbury — only the Fireball crews are to assemble at Lyttelton to dis pute a national title — the opposite will be the case as Olympic hopes are in turn raised and dashed on the Hauraki Gulf during February and March.