MEET the men yoi dare not cross tacks with. Both well over six foot tall and with 200 kilos between them, they are sailing heavyweights, in more ways than one.

Mark Mansfield and David Burrows claimed their place in the Atlanta sun in impressive style on Lake Garda, Italy, last month. They won an individual race in the European Olympic qualification series adding further weight to the claim that they are now ranked in the top 10 Star keel boat sailors in the World.

The fact that they have the same speed as past Gold medallists two months before the Games is a tantalising prospect for Mansfield and Burrows, and a worrying one for Olympic sailing's established pecking order. This Irish pairing are the type of characters who might just do the unthinkable.

Bitterly disappointed with his 14th placing in an Olympic fleet of 27 at the Barcelona Games in 1992, the 33 year old EBS manager is adamant that that regatta result is unfinished business'. Though Mansfield may quit Olympic sailing after this summer he is determined for himself David and his father, who died in 1990, to give the 1996 regatta his all.

"In 1989 my father, Stafford, was diagnosed with cancer. He was a big influence in my sailing life and we had campaigned together in many boats including the 1985 Admiral's Cup where he was the event charter.

"One month after he died I won the National Helmsmans Championships and soon after I decided to leave the big boat scene and take up real sailing again in one design classes.

"The big boat scene in Ireland had turned me sour. In the Admiral's Cup, we were always working with inferior boats and inferior equipment, against many other countries who always had new boats and the best of equipment. Even now things haven't changed in the event we are still competing with older boats.

From this base Mansfield began ploughing the lonely furrow of the Olympic sailor and in 1992, though he had speed, he admits he lacked real in depth knowledge for the unusual Barcelona conditions.

"The big difference between 1992 and now is that I'm not starting from scratch. I have a bank of information gained over the past five years and while I am cautious of making predictions I know that given the right set of conditions, we're in with a shout."

His team up with Malahide student David Burrows, 18, last June has its own fair share of coincidences apart from the fact that they both share the same birthday, next Saturday, May 11th.

David's father, Richard, is the man behind Irish Sailing's Atlanta challenge which has raised £250,000 in funding to send the largest ever Irish sailing team to the Olympic Games.

The sailing team, ratified by the OCI, this week, will be 15 per cent of the total Irish Olympic squad, a fantastic achievement for Irish sailing and one which should, if the statisticians are right, yield the greatest chance of a medal.

The new Cork/Dublin combination were an immediate success on the water and Burrows' youthful talent, he's a Laser champion in his own right, was an important boost to Mansfield. Burrows - who is the youngest member of the sailing team - had his own fair share of adjustments to make in order to fill the crewing role as he was primarily a helmsman.

He had also to add considerable body weight to sail the Star to its optimum, but he achieved this in a most impressive fashion adding 20 kilos in as many months. This month he was a recipient of a Department of Education Outstanding Sports Persons grant.

Until late last year Mansfield was a talented but under raced Olympic sailor, entering just three or four regattas a year. Still able to achieve A card results, he nevertheless found it impossible to improve with so little opportunity for competition. But his new crew has helped to change that with an intensive six months racing campaign in the United States.

"The biggest obstacle for our sailing is the fact that every time we want to sail the boat we have to travel abroad, either to Europe or America for competition because Star keelboats are not sailed in Ireland," said Mansfield.

The obvious financial and time costs involved are colossal. To attend a two day regatta means a day's travelling either way and huge travel costs. The cost of the two year Olympic Star keelboat campaign, including the capital cost of the boat and equipment, is £80,000 making it one of the most expensive of all Olympic sports for Ireland to participate in.

"Luckily, the Atlanta Challenge fund has taken care of our funding worries, allowing us to concentrate on the sailing without having to worry about how to pay for the next suit of sails," Mansfield said.

The last six months have been seen the pair spend a long time on the water with a run of successes in the United States, much of it against formidable opposition. At the North Americans in Annapolis last October, they returned an A card result (an Olympic qualifying result), finishing 13th out of a high quality fleet of 58.

This was followed in December by victory in the Commodore's Cup in Miami, achieved in a good quality fleet of 33 boats, many of whom were using the event as a last training regatta before the World championships.

Staying in Miami into the new year, they saw off the challenge of talents such as British bronze medallist in the Soling class, Lawrie Smith, Glynn Charles and John McCausland to win the Bob Lenin Trophy on January 14th-15th.

Moving to St Petersburg for the Sport Regatta from January 18th-21st, again coming up against Smith and Charles, they took the honours in a fleet of 13. This was followed four days later by the Olympic Class Regatta in Miami, where the Irish duo met with what they describe as an exceptionally good fleet of 50 crews.

As a result, the qualification regatta at the Olympic trials in Italy last month was a comfortable turning point for the men with a mission who are to join an exclusive American training camp of gold and silver medallists in early June.