With a freshly-polished boat and a new sail, Zander Kirkland has headed to France to pursue his Olympic dream.

The young Laser sailor, who was laid low for the best part of a week with intestinal trouble, is competing in the Hyeres Regatta, the last before the World Championships in Turkey and his chance to qualify for Athens.

Kirkland is sitting 96th after five races, although he did pick up an eighth place finish in the second, which will no doubt please the enthusiastic youngster who had high hopes heading into the event.

?I?m just about to start my first grade one regatta of the year here and I just got a new sail and was breaking it in,? said Kirkland, who has taken a sabbatical from Tufts University to dedicate himself to qualification for the 2004 Games.

?I even cleaned and polished my boat. This regatta is a very important one as it is the last regatta before the Worlds in Turkey.

?Most of my competition are also here, so I will have to keep an eye out for them. I have been over here for awhile and I am looking forward to coming home in June, but not without accomplishing my mission.

?This last month will be intense, but I am looking forward to it because I have been working for it for some time.?

The racing will be especially tough for Kirkland, who lost a considerable amount of weight due to his illness, but he has been bulking up on pasta to prepare himself for the competition?s six days of racing.

The weight loss will be a considerable source of frustration for Kirkland, given that he is already competing against guys bigger, and more muscular, than he is.

He will be bouyed, however, by the arrival of Dino Weber, his Argentinian coach, and he will be grateful of the support after a lonely spring of European training in the solo sport.

Around 130 boats will be competing in the regatta, with Kirkland aiming for a top half finish.

Racing concludes on Friday and as yet the unsuitable weather, which was expected to cause the cancellation of at least one day?s racing, has not materialised.