Ripping into Tornadoes | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

Christchurch engineer Aaron Duncan is about to try world Formula One racing - on the water.

The 34-year-old yachtie is off to compete in the world Tornado catamaran championships at Cascais, Portugal.

The Tornado is the Formula One of racing dinghies, he says. The mechanical design engineer sails them because of "the need for speed".

"They are hugely exhilarating boats, and changes made for the 2004 Olympics with spinnaker, twin trapeze, and bigger main and jib have made them awesome boats to sail. They are very, very fast and exhilarating, and the acceleration is incredible."

How fast?

"We were clocked at 27 knots at Sail Auckland last year, downwind with the kite up in a 20 knot breeze," he said. Duncan, who will sail with Aucklander Paul Francis at the worlds, came back to Tornados for the Sail Auckland regatta in February last year with Francis after a break of several years.

He'd previously sailed five world championships crewing for Murray Philpott - following the sun from 1995 at Kingston, Ontario, via Queensland, Brazil, and Bermuda to his last contest at Sydney in 2000.

The changes to the class at the IOC's instigation to make Olympic sailing more spectacular kick-started his enthusiasm again.

He and Francis, who finished third at Sail Auckland this year, tend to do better in medium and heavy winds and hope the Atlantic winds in Portugal will suit them. The regatta serves as the 2007 world championships for all the Olympic classes, and is drawing 1600 sailors including three Kiwi Tornado crews.

Their goal was to get one of the New Zealand boats in the top 11 countries which would qualify New Zealand for next year's Olympic games, said Duncan.

Four more countries will qualify at the next worlds at Takapuna in February.

A former Hobie cat sailor, Duncan first started sailing Ts with one of Lyttelton yachting's characters, the late Sam Henderson, in 1994 before teaming up with Philpott after a year.

Henderson's enthusiasm for the big cats saw him survive a heart attack on the water at a national contest in Wellington, and Duncan now owns Henderson's old wooden boat which has probably logged more miles on the harbour than any centreboarder.

He sails local races with Brent Rosevear, but has been up to Auckland for three weekends this year to train with Francis. He's also putting in long hours with the weights and on the rowing machine to be fighting fit for the worlds.