FOLLOWING their chequered performances at the Princess Sofia regatta last month, the region's leading Olympic hopefuls move to Hyeres for the six-day Semaine Olympique Francaise starting on Sunday.
Apart from Star sailors Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, all of the top RYA team GBR sailors will be attending Hyeres, a Grade 1 ISAF Ranked Event and a Eurolymp Event. They include Lymington's Ben Ainslie, who started his Finn campaign with a remarkable fourth place in Palma and Paul Goodison, Ainslie's successor in the Laser class who took gold.
In the 470 class, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, who finished in fifth place at the Princess Sofia regatta, will again be pitting their wits against British rivals Graham Vials and Dan Newman, who came in three places behind, while Helena Lucas and Jenny Heeley represent Britain's women in the class.
In the 49er class, Alistair Richardson (Dorset) and Peter Greenhalgh (Hampshire), will be trying to improve on their seventh position at Palma and teammate Paul Brotherton (Hampshire) will sail this event with Mark Asquith rather than Simon Hiscocks.
Hugh Styles and Adam May will be looking to put right the errors that saw them finish in a disappointing 16th place and Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, Inga Leask and Sarah Ayton face stiff competition.
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