N.Z. men fourth at European 470 titles

Press, 12 July 1988, Page 41

N.Z. men fourth at European 470 titles

NZPA London The Olympic 470 yachtsmen, Peter Evans and Simon Mander, had a disappointing last race to finish fourth over all in the European championships at Quiberon in France on Sunday. Evans and Mander, holding second place going into the final day, dropped two places when they finished fifteenth in the last race. Crews from France, Italy and Finland took the first three places over all.

Fiona Galloway and Jan Shearer, set to become the first New Zealand women’s crew to compete at the Olympics, failed to finish the last race when a block jammed in the mast and they were unable to pull any rig tension on.

Evans told NZPA: "We didn’t have a very good race today. But it was very, very close. The third and fourth boats were within two or three points so it doesn’t matter who beat who.” Evans and Mander came up against much the same opposition as last year at the

pre-Olympics in Pusan. Any of 10 crews could take the gold this year in the competition proper. “I think we’ve got a pretty good chance,” Evans said. "We’re renowned for our performances when it’s really windy.” Evans and Mander began a four-week campaign when they finished fourteenth at Kiel Week in their first race in two and a half months.

After Keil, they won the European Championship qualifying series and then came fourth in the main event.

"We didn’t really want to go to Europe this year, but we just had to keep racing,” Evans said. "You can do a lot of training at home, but if you don’t come to Europe you don’t get the same sort of racing.”

Jan Shearer was undeterred by the New Zealand women’s final race problems on Sunday. "Better here than at Pusan,” she told NZPA. “It’s been really good for us to sail against all the people who are going to be at

the Olympics. '"We’re quite confident with our speed in all conditions — we know we can keep up,” she said.

Shearer picks the Swedish runner-up at Quiberon, Marit Soederstroem, as a prime contender at Pusan. "She’s been consistently up there all the time,” she said. The European championship culminated two months intensive sailing on the Continent. Galloway and Shearer won the Dutch Spring Cup, sailed in the Spa regatta, spent a week training in Sweden, came eighth at Kiel Week, third in the 470 twenty-fifth Anniversary Cup and finally further back in the European championship.

“It’s been really good,” Shearer said. "But I think this was sufficient.” The two crews were heading for Rotterdam on Sunday evening to supervise the loading of their boats for Pusan before returning home to keep up their fitness and get in what sailing the winter would allow.