Readjusting to heavy air racing will be among the top priorities for Olympic-bound sailors Jesse and Zander Kirkland at this week’s Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth, England.The regatta, that gets underway today, is a final dress rehearsal ahead of next month’s Olympics and will showcase the talents of some of the world’s elite sailors such as two-time Argo Group Gold Cup winner Ben Ainslie of England.“With heavy air 49er sailing you need to be quicker with everything, it is like sailing in fast forward,” said crewman Zander. “The breeze will be great practice for us and we look forward to getting back into the swing of heavy air racing.“It takes adjusting to, but it is a lot of fun hauling the mail around when it gets fresh. We are looking for improvement with our boat handling as we get reacquainted in the breeze through the week and hopefully we can put together some good performances at this final World Cup Event before the Games.”The regatta forms part of the Kirkland’s preparations for the upcoming Games.“This event is the beginning of our month-long training camp at the Olympic venue (Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour),” Zander said. “So regardless of the outcome next week we will be able to work on certain things that we see as weaknesses in our game before the Games start.“As far as results for this event, it really isn’t something we are too focused on. We want to do well if at all possible, but we will not be fazed if things do not come together.”Team bonding and mapping out a strategy for next month’s Olympics will also be high on the Kirkland’s agenda in the UK over the next several weeks.“We have a new coach (former top British 49er sailor Mark Asquith) and our team manager (Paul Hiles) will be present, so we will working out the new dynamics of the team to figure out how to best approach the Olympic regatta next month,” Zander said.“It is exciting to have this much support and we feel it will help us sail to our potential at the Games. We have two five-day training camps with Mark and a four- day Olympic Coaches Regatta (run by the coaches/practice event) before we head back home on July 1.”The Kirkland’s preparations for this week’s Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta have been far from ideal, with skipper Jesse still recovering from a stomach bug.“The stomach bug was unfortunate because we were not able to do the amount of pre-event practice we had planned,” Zander said. “Jesse is feeling better, not quite one hundred percent. But is eating again, which is a good sign.”In the lead up to this week’s regatta, to be held at the Olympic venue in Weymouth and Portland, British sailors had expressed concern over possibly losing home advantage on the eve of the Games.However, Zander said the hosts have taken steps to “offer as much advantage as possible” for Team Britain without coming across as being “bad hosts”.“They are closing off the Olympic Sailing Centre for a month in the final six weeks before the Games and this can also be found in their specific course locations for the classes,” he added. “Our Olympic race courses happen to not coincide with the Sail for Gold race courses, except for the medal race on the sixth day. Coincidence, I think not.“After the event we will be sailing in these Olympic specific course locations, which are closer to shore for the ticketed spectators and have a much more ‘Gold Cup’ spectator feel. These closer to shore Olympic courses will also be generally more shiftier and more protected, something which we would prefer over the more exposed waters of Weymouth Bay/Atlantic.”The Kirklands qualified for the upcoming Games after finishing ninth at last month’s 49er World Championships in Zadar, Croatia.