New Zealand's Olympic Games sailors head into full competition mode over the next fortnight as six world championship regattas are being sailed in Europe.
The Lasers kick things off on Friday evening (NZT) with five New Zealanders competing, headed by the country's entrant in the Olympics, last year's world championships bronze medalist Andrew Murdoch.
On Saturday, the Star world championships begin in Hyeres, France. Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner will be attempting to earn one of the final four Olympic qualification berths for the New Zealand sailing team. Pepper has a gold and silver medal from previous world championships in the Star class.
Ahead of the Finn world championships, for the Gold Cup, are the British nationals over the weekend with 90 boats entered. Ninety-five boats have entered the Gold Cup, including Dan Slater on his bid to claim Olympic selection.
Most other Olympic representatives will be starting their world championship runs later in the week.
The 49ers start on May 7 in Croatia, the Finns at Falmouth and the 470s in Barcelona on May 13 and the Laser Radial on May 15.
Men's 470 crew member Jason Saunders said he and team-mate, Paul Snow-Hansen were excited about getting into racing again.
"We have a big couple of months coming up, we will be doing three regattas, plus some training camps in Weymouth before coming home to freshen up," he said.
"With the Olympics less than 90 days away, it's all coming up very fast and we are looking forward to the challenges ahead."