A week in Cancun evokes idyllic images of fun in the sun, but when the 2000 Laser World Championship gets underway there next week, it will be all business for at least seven U.S. sailors. With the U. S. Olympic Laser Trials less than a month away (April 6-16 at the San Francisco Yacht Club), this huge, international regatta forms one of the final tune-up events prior to the Trials.

Among the 140 entrants heading to Mexico?s famed resort island for the Worlds (representing 50 nations) are seven Americans who will be closely monitoring each other?s performance. They are ? Brett Davis, Bill Hardesty, Mark Mendelblatt, John Torgerson, Andrew Scrivan, Peter Hurley and Andy Lovell. Only the latter two haven?t yet qualified for the Olympic Trials. Racing gets started at the Club de Vela de Cancun on Wednesday, March 15 for the Senior Championship, while the Masters Championship starts on March 26.