Great Britain s Olympic sailing hopefuls have flocked to the French Riviera ready for the start of racing at the 39th French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres on Sunday 22 April.
Nearly 70 Skandia Team GBR sailors are amongst the 1300 competitors from 58 nations registered to compete at this ISAF Grade 1 event, which features 10 Olympic and two Paralympic classes competing on Mediterranean waters at the six-day event.
At the 2006 edition, British sailors bagged five medals including gold and a first ever victory at a major Olympic classes regatta for Finn sailor Ed Wright. The European Champion will be one to watch for the Finn title again this year, while Yngling sailors Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson will be looking to maintain their clean sweep of podium positions at major Olympic classes events since forming as trio last autumn. They will line up alongside double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson and her crew of Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor, for whom the Hyeres event will be just their third regatta as a crew.
49er sailors Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes will also be looking to extend their strong start to 2007 with a third consecutive podium finish this year the European Champions scooped silver at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January and followed that up with gold at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma at the beginning of April. The Exmouth duo also head to Hyeres with fond memories, having won silver at the 2006 event, while 49er World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks will be doing their best to end their Hyeres jinx the French Olympic Sailing Week is the only Grade 1 event the Athens bronze medallists have never medalled at.
Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw will fly the Skandia Team GBR flag in the RS:X men s and women s windsurfing disciplines, with Dempsey having won silver at last year s regatta, while Athens silver medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield will be looking to put their disappointing outing of two weeks ago at the Princess Sofia Trophy behind them with a solid performance in the 470 Men s event. Reigning World Champions in that class, Nic Asher and Elliot Willis, have been forced to withdraw from the event with Willis still suffering shoulder problems which also saw them confined to shore at the Palma regatta. Development squad sailors Luke Patience and Chris Grube will be looking for another impressive performance to follow on from their fifth place in Palma.
World number ones Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark are the sole British representatives in the 470 women s class, Paul Goodison and Nick Thompson will be in the hunt for medals in the Laser event, while development squad Laser Radial sailor will be pushing for an equally strong performance in Hyeres to follow on from her commendable eighth place at the Princess Sofia Trophy.
Hopes in the Tornado class will rest with Leigh McMillan-Will Howden and Rob Wilson-Mark Bulkeley, while in the two Paralympic disciplines Skandia Team GBR will be counting on double World Champions John Robertson-Hannah Stodel-Stephen Thomas in the Sonar class making its first ever appearance at the Hyeres event and Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe in the single-handed 2.4mR class.
Racing at the 2007 French Olympic Sailing Week runs through until Friday 27 April.