Olympic bronze medal 49er sailors Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks have left the borough to take on the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Cascais, Portugal.

Draper, 29, of Crossways, and Hiscocks, 34, of Fortuneswell, Portland have been sailing together since 2002 and are strongly placed to be selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics for a second time running.

In recent events, the pair won gold at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres in April, but their last regatta in Breitling, Holland at the end of May was not so successful.

Double Olympic medallist Hiscocks said: "Holland didn't go very well for us. We finished 20th but by that time the end result was pretty immaterial. We've never finished that low in any regatta in our lives before. We went in a bit of a daze and came out of it in a daze, and we still think was that really us - did we really compete?'"

The world championships started yesterday and the 49er sailors are confident about getting back to their usual standard.

Hiscocks said: "To be honest we're not all that concerned. A few things we didn't do very well in preparation for Holland, we wouldn't consider being in that situation in the worlds - testing kit we weren't happy with, and we started too early and were disqualified from two races.

"All these things are controllable and something we need to make sure we don't do. We almost got blasé and we have been very good about not doing that in the past."

The 49er is one of the most exhilarating of all of the Olympic classes, providing exciting racing over short courses. The skiff made its debut at the 2000 Sydney games where Hiscocks won silver sailing with Ian Barker, who is now a UK 49er coach.

In the 2004 Athens games, Hiscocks enjoyed another podium finish with Draper when they achieved bronze.

Their biggest competition for the 2008 British Olympic squad selection is Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes.

Hiscocks said: "We're fairly confident but by no means is it a foregone conclusion."

To find out more about Hiscocks and Draper's Olympic campaign visit www.draperhiscocks.com.