Sailing: New design pays off for British pair

Sailing

Sporting a radical new design of lightweight mainsail, the British Olympic pair of David Williams and Ian Rhodes kicked off with an encouraging third in the first race of the Tornado catamarans, writes Stuart Alexander from Miami.

The pair took a decision not to go to the World Championship in Brisbane earlier this month, preferring to work on a sail which has less battens - five instead of seven - and a lighter weight of sailcloth, and thus expected to provide greater speed.

While the race was won by the man who took the championship in Australia, Austria's Andreas Hagara, Williams and Rhodes could take satisfaction in putting Spain's Fernando Leon, strongly tipped for an Olympic medal later this year, and America's Randy Smyth behind them.

Less happy was Lawrie Smith whose opening assault on the trial to find Britain's Star class two-man keelboat representative, was marred by hitting the first weather mark, forcing him to take a 360-degree penalty turn.