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Sailing: Robertson has perfect pitch

Stuart Alexander
Sunday 13 June 1993 23:02 BST
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WITH nine wins in nine races in the Eurolymp regatta at Hayling Island, Britain's 1992 Olympic representative in the single-handed Europe, Shirley Robertson, has assured herself of maxiumum points and a No 1 ranking that looks unassailable this year, writes Stuart Alexander.

The fleet for the British end of a European series is down, but the opportunity to experiment with new courses and formats has proved very valuable, according to the RYA coach, Rob Andrews.

With the Laser entering the Olympics in Savannah in 1996, competition has been tight with five points separating the top three going into the final two races today. Simon Coles leads with 20, followed by Gareth Kelly with 21 and Alan Davies on 25.

'The competitors certainly seem to be enjoying a format which tries to keep races to about 45 minutes,' Andrews said. 'We have been running three a day and from the 11 over the four days only one bad result can be discarded and that cannot be the final race. That means there is interest right to the end.'

There has also been an opportunity to see the British-designed Laser 5000 in action as it attempts to become an Olympic choice for the year 2000. Yesterday Derek Clark, who, with Phil Morrison, designed the twin-trapeze boat, won his three races.

Daniel Malle's La Poste won the fifth leg of the UAP Round Europe race from Copenhagen to Helsinki, beating his Whitbread Race rival, Grant Dalton, in New Zealand Endeavour, for the first time.

In the Whitbread 60s, Spain's Javier de la Gandara in Galicia Pescanova took the overall lead when he won the leg.

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