2010 Princess Sofia - Australian crews prepare for racing in Spain

2:42 AM Sat 27 Mar 2010 GMT

'Belcher and Page at the 2010 Australian 470 Championship' Yachting Australia Click Here to view large photo

The Australian Sailing Team's 470 men's crew of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page will be looking to extend their lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup as the series heads to Spain for round three.

The pair currently sit at the top of the table in the 470 class after winning the opening round in Melbourne in December and backing it up with a second placing in Miami in January.

Racing at the 2010 Princess Sofia regatta in Palma, Spain, begins on Sunday, 28 March, though Belcher and Page will only have limited time at the venue before the event begins, following Page's wedding in Australia late last week.

'Our preparations have been quite limited to say the least,' said Belcher. 'We'll be arriving together on Friday, only a day and a half before the regatta starts.'

'Not the best preparation before an event but Malcolm is bringing his new wife Fiona with him as a part of their honey moon,' he said.

Prior to Page's wedding the pair spent time training in Sydney with coach Victor Kovalenko and will stay in Europe for rounds three and four of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.

'The training back home has been quite good,' said Belcher. 'We have managed to test and develop a number of things and get ourselves in good shape, but time will tell as to how good of a shape we are in.'

The pair will face tough competition in Spain with a massive 470 men's fleet set to contest the regatta.

'We're pleased to see the numbers continually grow in the 470 class, with over 100 boats competing in the men's division,' said Belcher. 'We haven't set any result goals for this event mainly because of our lack of time training before this event.'

'Malcolm and I want to further stabilise our racing techniques and test some equipment, but racing in such a high level fleet in the first European world cup of the season is why we are here,' he said.

Joining Belcher and Page in the men's 470 fleet will be fellow Australians and Australian Sailing Development Squad members Sam Kivell and Will Ryan.

Nicky Souter (l) and Katie Spithill (r) 2010 New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championship - Sailsportz

The Australian Women's Match Racing Team will have two crews competing in Spain, lead by Katie Spithill (Pellew)and Nicky Souter, in a fleet of 22 crews from 11 nations.

Spithill will be sailing alongside Olivia Price and Rayshele Martin while Souter will have Nina Curtis and Jessica Eastwell as crew.

The Australians had recent success in New Zealand where Spithill lead Souter in a one-two finish at the New Zealand Women's Match Racing Championship.

'The New Zealand Championships were a great warm up event for us in preparation for meeting the world's best in Palma,' said Spithill. 'Each regatta we go into we sail with different crew in different combinations, so no two events are the same.

'But what is important at these events is to be able to gain valuable regatta experience and check in with the other teams and see what they have been up to and where our weaknesses and strengths lie,' she said.

Spithill and Souter followed the regatta up by acting as observers at the Louis Vuitton Trophy, learning a lot from some of the best match racing crews in the world.

'Katie and I definitely learnt a lot about team communication and also how they manage their pre-starts and first-shift strategies,' said Souter. 'A lot of the manoeuvres done in the Louis Vuitton Trophy, we have practiced many times in training and in competition.'

Fellow Australians Paul McKenzie and Philip Toth will be competing in a high quality Star class fleet.

www.australiansailingteam.com.au

by Craig Heydon