All eyes will be on Yachting NSW's Sydney International Regatta (SIR) when the cream of the world's Olympic and Youth sailors congregate to race at the ISAF Grade 1 event on Sydney Harbour next month.
With many international competitors yet to be selected for the Beijing Olympic Games, the SIR - held from December 15 to 18 - will be a key selection event for some nations.
Set to showcase the world's best, on courses mirroring those of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, big fleets are expected in the Finn, 470, 49er and 29er classes at the SIR, as their world titles will be sailed at Sail Melbourne in January, along with the Tornado Asia Pacific Championship, boosting Tornado numbers too.
GLOVES OFF
The gloves are already off with the news that GB's Ben Ainslie, considered one the world's greatest ever Olympic class sailors, will face-off against rival countryman Ed Wright for selection in the Finn single-handed class for the Games.
Wright, currently world ranked fifth, will have a difficult job ahead of him. Although Ainslie has been missing from the Olympic track - he has competed with Team New Zealand at the America's Cup for the past couple of years - it has not lessened his Finn sailing skills.
Counting wins at both the 2006 and 2007 Qingdao Olympic Test events, despite the layoff, Ainslie, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, will undoubtedly be a brick wall for all-comers.
Highlights for the Brit include Finn gold at the Athens Games, the 2004 and 2005 Finn Gold Cup and 2003 ISAF Worlds. Prior to that, he sailed the Laser single-handed class, taking gold at Sydney 2000 after victory at the 1998 and 1999 Laser Worlds.
"All the good Finn sailors will be at the SIR, me included," said two-time Australian Olympian, Anthony Nossiter, who qualified Australia for the 2008 Olympics.
"The ‘Big Raffa' will be hard to beat," he said of fellow America's Cup teammate (the +39 syndicate crew were predominantly Finn sailors) and 2007 Finn world champion Raffa Trujillo Villar (ESP).
World ranked 2, 3 and 4, Pieter-Jan Postma (NED), Dan Slater (NZ) and Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE), and Australian Olympic prospect Brendan Casey will also be there.
Athens Olympians, and 2007 Test Event and Worlds winners Nathan Wilmot/Malcolm Page will lead the Men's 470 field. They face off with fellow Aussies and World ranked fourth pair of Mat Belcher/Nick Behrens.
Silver and bronze Worlds medallists, Sven and Kalle Coster (NED), Gideon Kliger/Udi Gal (ISR); 2007 Test Event silver and bronze winners Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield (GB); and Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes (POR) head the international field.
In the Women's 470, Elise Rechich/Tessa Parkinson will lead the Aussies, having won the 2007 Olympic Test Event. They face stiff opposition from 2007 Worlds top three; Marcelien De Koning/Lobke Berkhout (NED), Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux (FRA) and Christina Bassadone/Saskia Clark (GB); and others.
In the 49er skiff, young and talented Nathan Outteridge/Ben Austin will lead the Aussies into battle - the two won bronze at the ISAF World Sailing Championships. Poised to take gold at the Qingdao Test Event, they led the final race before a breakage pushed them back to fifth place.
Hot competition at the SIR will come from Athens Olympian brothers Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA), Worlds runners-up Nico Delle Karth/Nikolaus Resch (AUT), Test Event silver and bronze medallists Iker Martinez/Xabier Fernandez (ESP) and brothers Peter and Soren Hansen (DEN), along with Athens silver medallists Luka Rodian/George Leonchuk (UKR) and two-time Olympian in the class, Marcus Baur, crewed by Max Baumann (GER).
AUSSIE TORNADO
Australia's silver medallist from Sydney 2000, Darren Bundock and his crew Glenn Ashby, World ranked No. 1, will be hard to beat on home soil in the Tornado class. They have won a number of titles, including the 2006 Worlds, silver at the Qingdao Test Event and fourth at the 2007 Worlds.
Competition at SIR will be littered with international top rankers, including the new German national champions Johannes Polgar/Florian Spalteholz, Niko and Tino Mittelmeier (GER), Oskar Johansson/Kevin Stittle (CAN), Leigh McMillan/Will Howden (GB), Iordanis Paschalides/Konstantinos Trigonis (GRE) and Carolijn Brouwer/Sebastien Godefroid (BEL).
Brouwer, an Olympian, is the lone female vying for Olympic selection in the Tornado and has proved herself with some top three results of late.
"There'll be a few of us; Russia and a couple of others will be sending multiple teams. We're looking forward to racing at the SIR on Sydney Harbour - it'll be like sailing at the Sydney Olympics," says Bundock.
LASER CHAMP
As the Laser Worlds are to be sailed off Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast in February, expect to see elite sailors from around the globe at SIR. Australia's own Tom Slingsby, the 2007 Laser world champion and current World ranked No. 1 will head the line-up.
Slingsby, who hails from the Central Coast, will fend off challenges from fellow countryman and Sydney 2000 bronze medallist Michael Blackburn, the 2006 world champion and currently World ranked No. 4.
Internationally, 2007 Qingdao Test Event winner and World ranked No. 2 Paul Goodison (GB) will be a major threat. Other top ranked players include Worlds silver and bronze medallists Andrew Murdoch (NZ) and Deniss Karpak (EST), Michael Leigh (CAN), Gustavo Lima (POR), Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) and Luka Radelic (CRO).
The Laser Radial Women's single-handed class will be well represented. Early entrant and Australia's gold medallist at the 2007 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, Gabrielle King (she won gold just days before her seventeenth birthday in July), is to get her dream of competing against Olympic class competition earlier than she thought.
Athens Olympian Sarah Blanck (AUS) is a confirmed entry and Krystal Weir is expected to enter as well. Both are campaigning for the 2008 Games.
Internationally, the top three in the world, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Tania Elias Calles Wolf (MEX) will be there, along with Jo Aleh (NZ), and Finland's Sari Multala.
Big numbers are not expected in the Olympic RS:X and Yngling classes, due to conflicting world titles and other major events, although China and South Africa may each send a pair of Yngling crews.
OLYMPIC SELECTION
"We expect to see record numbers at the SIR, as many will be here doing their final preparations and gaining valuable points towards Olympic selection," says Yachting NSW CEO, Adrian Steer."
"We will also know who the Australian Sailing Team for Beijing is by that stage, so it's exciting that our event will be their first major Grade 1 regatta since the announcement."
"SIR will give spectators not only the opportunity of seeing our Olympic team in action but watching the best from other countries as well," Steer said.
For the NoR and more info, phone Yachting NSW on (02) 8116 9800, visit www.sailsydney.org.au