Sailor Sara Lane Wright has joined forces with a Mexican rival as both bid to clinch final qualifying spots in next year's Olympics.

Tania Calles, a gold medallist at last year's CAC Games in the Laser Radials and Wright, who won in the same class at the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg in August, have been training together to boost their chances of going to Sydney to compete in the single handed Europe boats.

"The Laser Radial is not a very technical boat, whereas the Europe can be very complicated,'' explained Wright. "You really need someone to work with.

This is giving us a head start.

"Although we are opponents we are hoping that by sailing together we will increase our chances of qualifying for our respective countries.

"We are both very competitive and aggressive when it comes to sailing.'' The pair have prepared a gruelling training schedule for themselves, leading up to the January qualifier in Salvador, Brazil.

On windy days they are practicing for six hours; when the breeze is lighter they back up three hours on the water with gym work.

They are working with two coaches: Gus Miller, from Rhode Island, who was brought in to prepare the Bermuda team for the Pan Am Games, and Norwegian Tina Moberg, a former Olympic competitor.

Calles has already picked up some hardware in the Europe class, claiming bronze at the Winnipeg event almost two months ago, while Wright has only competed in one event in the Europes -- the world championships in Melbourne.

However, the Mexican is under no illusions as to the effort that will be required to win a spot in Australia.

Sailors from a total of 13 countries will be competing for the remaining seven spots, with three wild cards to be awarded later -- one of which will be reserved for the host nation. "It is going to be really hard,'' said Calles.

"The competition will be really tough.''