Sailors continue Olympic campaign

Long-time sponsor of sailing, Chris McKinley of Turtles Sportswear, continued his support last week, providing training gear for the islands top three sailors (from left) Taua Eliza, Junior Charlie and Helema Williams.

The trio left for the United Kingdom at the weekend with one thing on their minds, and that is to qualify for the London Olympics next year.

The sailors have a number of sponsors whove jumped on board to help them with their mission including Aquila Rentals in Aitutaki.

The team will first head to Holland for the ISAF World Cup where they will spend six days sailing against some of the worlds best in the laser radial (women) and laser standard class sailing boats.

The next regatta that is part of the Olympic qualification sailing series the local sailors will sail in will be the Sail for Gold regatta in the UK.

The six day regatta is another opportunity for the local sailors to prove themselves and earn points to qualify for London 2012.

While Charlie heads home, Williams and Eliza will give all theyve got at the Olympic test event from August 1 to 14 at Weymouth Bay.

The test event is being run at the Olympic venue and over the same dates the sailing races in 2012 will be staged.

After the test event Williams and Eliza will meet up again with Junior Charlie for the South Pacific Games in New Caledonia in late August.