Laser line-up

One spot remains to be filled in the GBR Olympic line-up. We look at the prospects in this weekend's Laser trials

The fight for the one remaining spot in the team GBR's sailing team for Athens opens tomorrow down in Weymouth and Portland harbour when battle will commence between the top UK Laser sailors. Following a practice race tomorrow, racing starts in earnest on Sunday and 11 races are to be held between then and Thursday.

Unlike a conventional regatta, the purpose of the Trials is to select the best candidate - ie the most consistent, versatile sailor - to go to the Games. If, for example, there are three consecutive days with the same conditions, the Selection Committee may chose to stop racing until different conditions arrive to provide a fresh test for the sailors.

Unlike the US Sailing trials, the winner of the Laser trials is still not guaranteed to get the spot for Athens. "It is as laid out in the Olympic trials process document as drafted by the Olympic Selection Committee," explains RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park. "There are two options. Following the trials they can either select or they can short list a group go on to a maximum of two other events." Thus if favourite Paul Goodison wins by a country mile, then the odds are on that the Olympic Selection Committee will give him the ticket. If his win is marginal he will still probably get the spot. If someone else wins marginally or even by a country mile it is likely that the trials will continue to two additional events. The whole idea behind this is to legislate against flash in the pan performances.

Up until the beginning of 2003 Paul Goodison was the Golden Boy of British Laser sailing, amply filling the shoes left by Sydney Gold medallist Ben Ainslie. However last summer saw a serious downturn in his performance and furious with himself he quit both the pre-Olympics in Athens and also the all-important Cadiz Worlds a short time later. "I just did too much," Goodison told thedailysail. "I planned my breaks but didn't take them well enough. One of the main problems was that I spent too much time in Athens. I was away from home for about three months just with different commitments." (To read our full interview with Paul Goodison - click here).

Fortunately after a break Goodison appears to be back on top form. In January he won the Sail Melbourne regatta and followed this up with a win at the Rolex Olympic Class Regatta in Miami, both world class events. It is fair to say that going into the trials Goodison is favourite.

However there is no shortage of competition. While Goodison is currently third in ISAF Laser rankings, in 11th place is Ed Wright while in 15th is Mark Howard. Don Holman is 36th and Andrew Commander 40th.

To give a recent form pointer at the Athens Eurolymp in February Goodison finished fifth ahead of Ed Wright in 12th and Mark Howard in 15th. They were followed by Dan Holman in 26th and 16 year old Giles Scott in 28th. The Rolex OCR saw Goodison win while Andrew Commander finish 18th and West Kirby's James Smith come 23rd in a fleet of 63. Sail Melbourne saw Goodison win, Mark Howard fifth, Ed Wright sixth and Andrew Commander eighth. Another sailor to watch is Hugh Styles who following Lee MacMillan and Mark Bulkeley's selection for the GBR Tornado spot for Athens jumped into a Laser and has been training furiously ever since. Styles was 21st at Eurolymp.

Entry list:

Ranking	Name	Home sailing club	Home town	Date of Birth
1	Paul Goodison	Ulley Sailing Club	Rotherham, S. Yorkshire	29/11/1977
2	Dan Holman	Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club	Torpoint, Cornwall	08/08/1980
3	Ed Wright	Bay of Colwyn Sailing Club	Rugby, Warwickshire	13/10/1977
4	Mark J Howard	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire	18/09/1982
5	Mark Powell	Hayling Island Sailing Club	Hayling Island, Hampshire	02/07/1983
6	Charles Baillie-Strong	Exeter University Sailing Club	Exeter, Devon	01/09/1984
7	Nick Thompson	Royal Lymington Yacht Club	Lymington, Hampshire	05/05/1986
8	Andrew Commander	Teign Corinthian Yacht Club	Shaldon, Devon	16/08/1981
9	Stephen Powell	Hayling Island Sailing Club	Hayling Island, Hampshire	08/05/1986
10	Andy Brooks	Exeter University Sailing Club	Ramsbottom, Lancs	24/04/1985
11	James Gray	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	West Horsley, Surrey	25/07/1983
12	Giles Scott	Grafham Water Sailing Club	Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire	23/06/1987
13	Barney Chandler	Guernsey Yacht Club	Guernsey	03/01/1981
14	James Smith	West Kirby Sailing Club	Greasby, Wirral	30/08/1982
15	Dan Ward	Frensham Pond	Grayshott, Hampshire	25/07/1983
16	James Tilley	Restronguet Sailing Club	Penryn, Cornwall	03/04/1985
17	Andrew Mills	Queen Mary SC	Ashford, Middlesex	17/12/1985
18	Richard Williams	Royal Harwich Yacht Club	Ipswich, Surrey	01/09/1983
19	Chris Grube	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	Chichester, W. Sussex	22/01/1985
20	Tony Adams	Burghfield Sailing Club	Richmond, Surrey	11/01/1986
21	Luke Breen-Turner	Royal Anglesey Yacht Club	Anglesey, N.Wales	24/10/1987
22	Ian Morgan	Weston Sailing Club	Southampton, Hampshire	29/05/1980
23	Rob Janering	Wembley Sailing Club	Stanmore, Middlesex	07/02/1980
24	Toby Ashton	Oxford Sailing Club	Swindon, Wiltshire	22/03/1980
25	David Brooks	Elton Sailing Club	Ramsbottom, Lancs	02/11/1987
26	Thomas Hepburn	Largs Sailing Club	Largs, Ayrshire	18/06/1986
27	Stuart Williams	Oxford Sailing Club	Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire	22/09/1986
28	Hugh Styles	Downs Sailing Club	Sandwich, Kent	25/06/1974
29	Rob Hardwick	Papercourt Sailing Club	Leatherhead, Surrey	28/08/1977
30	Luke Matley-Jones	Mounts Bay	St. Ives, Cornwall	03/01/1986
31	Alistair Conn	Derwent Reservoir	Morpeth, Northumberland	26/07/1984
32	Ben Sutcliffe	Dale Yacht Club	Dale, Pembrokeshire	13/03/1987
33	Chris Smith	Papercourt Sailing Club	Woodham, Surrey	02/04/1987
34	Kier Clarke	Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy	Bridport, Dorset	10/04/1985
35	James Espey	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Bangor, Co. Down	23/01/1984
36	Patrick Adair	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Bangor, Co. Down	11/02/1988
37	Duncan Halliday	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Bangor, Co. Down	12/06/1985
38	Colin Leonard	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Belfast	14/09/1984
39	Stuart Roy	Forfar Sailing Club	Angus, Scotland	16/01/1987
40	Stephen Cockerill	Stokes Bay Sailing Club	Emsworth, Hampshire	14/11/1962