Law on crest of a wave

Andrew Preece says Britain's sailing success in Auckland augurs well for 1997

As a fillip to hopes of embarking on a serious road to the 2000 America's Cup, the performance of the British team in Auckland this week could not have been much better.

The British team today resumed racing against Russell Coutts and Team New Zealand in a best-of-seven mini-Americas Cup series final. The Royal Dorset Yacht Club sailing team, skippered by Chris Law, won the right to challenge the America's Cup holders by dropping just one race in six against three other potential America's Cup 2000 syndicates.

The final was square at 1-1 overnight, which in itself is a formidable achievement, given the length of time that Britain has been out of the America's Cup game. If the British team fail to win a single race today they will fly back to England satisfied, their hopes of attracting the required financial backing to compete in 2000 considerably enhanced.

When the sailors return, they head into what could be a vintage season in Britain. September will bring the highlight when the 1997-98 Whitbread race gets under way. More than 30,000 miles around the world, beginning and ending in Southampton and attracting the cream of the world's sailors, the Whitbread is not to be confused with other round-the-world "races" like Chay Blyth's BT Challenge, which are little more than adventure holidays. The Whitbread is grand prix, and for the first time in recent years Britain has a good chance.

Lawrie Smith's Silk Cut will be flown to England from the builder in Australia in May and, while the syndicate can expect stiff competition from the likes of Dennis Conner, the former winner Grant Dalton and Paul Cayard, this is his best chance of victory in a race dominated by New Zealanders.

In August the offshore racing teams of the world will converge on Cowes for the Champagne Mumm Admiral's Cup. The unofficial world championship of offshore racing climaxes with the 600-mile Fastnet race.

Eight competitive three-boat teams are expected, and at this stage the New Zealanders, with Coutts among their skippers, rank as favourites. Britain has a chance here too with a team organised and underwritten by Graham Walker. The Olympic silver medallists John Merricks and Ian Walker are masterminding the smallest member of the team, the Mumm 36 Bradamante.

The Ultra 30 circuit enters its eighth year, with Smith sponsored by Vauxhall for the third year running. Smith has not had it easy in the Frontera Ultra 30 Grand Prix but has reigned as champion over the likes of the Olympic gold-medallist Mike McIntyre, the match-racer Eddie Warden Owen and one-time champion Russell Peters. The four-event British circuit begins in Portsmouth at the end of May, when Smith will be pushed hard by Peters and Warden Owen as he strives to retain his title.

Slightly smaller than the Ultra 30s and with three crew on trapezes instead of the Ultras' nine, the 18-foot skiff class is perhaps the most exciting dinghy for the spectators. The overpowered skiffs regularly capsize or spear into each other in dramatic fashion around courses set just yards from the land. Last year the fleet, which numbered Smith in its ranks, was burgeoning with more than 15 boats. This year the 1996 winner Tim Robinson will defend his title but Smith is absent and a circuit sponsor has yet to be found. Nevertheless, skiff organisers are working on a four- event British tour starting in June in Southend.

At the small end of the scale are the newly selected Olympic class the 49er and the Laser 5000. The waiting list for a new 49er grew to several months when the class was granted Olympic status last November. The combination of its difficulty to sail and its exciting performance once mastered will ensure its success as an Olympic class, and a fleet of around 15 boats will contest the British circuit. At stake are generous grants from sailing's national authority, the Royal Yachting Association, for Olympic campaigning. The favourites to win the 49er circuit and the 1997 Audi Laser 5000 Eurocup, where they are the defending champions, are brothers Andy and Ian Budgen, who have honed their skills in the Laser 5000 on the European tour over the past four years.