Youngest crew split after Olympic Regatta

by Richard Gladwell and Bay of Plenty Times on 3 Sep 2008
The youngest ever crew to sail in an Olympic regatta have split just two weeks after the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao.

Carl Evans and Peter Burling have decided to go their separate ways with Burling teaming up with a new crew, Blair Tuke for an Olympic campaign in the 49er class.

It was expected that Evans and Burling would have to change from the 470 class after the 2008 Olympics as they would be too heavy for the 470 class in the 2012 Olympics at Weymouth, England. The 49er is the logical choice, if they were to continue in two-handed Olympic classes.

Burling has elected to be the helmsman of the 49er and has teamed up with Blair Tuke, a former world champion in the Splash class, who in turn crewed with Olympic Gold and Bronze medallist, Bruce Kendall in the 2008 Tornado World Championships at Takapuna.

Burling is expected to move to Auckland next year to attend university and the pair will be able to train together in the Olympic skiff. The move to Auckland will also get them into deeper water - obviating concerns about the what would happen in the shallow Tauranga Habour during the inevitable capsizes as the crew step up their boat handling skills in the 49er.

The Bay of Plenty Times takes up the story: 'Peter Burling is done with being New Zealand's youngest sailing Olympian - now he's just keen to be the best.

'But the Tauranga schoolboy will be forced to ditch the 470 boat which took him and helmsman Carl Evans to 11th out of 29 boats in Beijing, focused instead on a move to the 49er class for London in four years' time.

'Burling and Evans needed to be a combined 7kg lighter to be competitive in Qingdao's light airs at the Olympics, with the class dominated by jockey-sized sailors.

'The Kiwis, the youngest New Zealand Olympic sailing crew, had a combined weight of 142kg.

'When there's a breeze that's okay,' Evans said, 'but 135kg would be ideal.'

Part of the problem was that Burling and Evans have both grown since they were originally named as the 470 crew.

'We're too big to continue in the 470 towards 2012 and I'm keen to have a change and helm again instead of crewing,' Burling explained. 'The 49er is a high-performance skiff _ there are two sailors with two trapezes _ so I get to combine helming with the trapezing that I have done in the past few years.'

'Evans, too, is eyeing the 49er class so the Olympic duo will go from teammates to on-water rivals.

'The 18-year-old went straight back to school at Tauranga Boys last week on returning from China after missing the best part of 15 weeks of school in his buildup to Beijing.

'He's planning to begin an engineering degree upon leaving school, so intends buttoning back his travel commitments. However _ he's heading away with his Tauranga Boys' team to defend their Interdominion title against Australian and New Zealand schools in five weeks. '

For the rest of this story http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/storyprint.cfm?storyID=3783602!click_here