OLYMPIC sailing contenders Annie Lush and Lucy and Kate Macgregor soared to new heights above the waves to get a taste of Weymouth’s new attraction.

The Poole trio, who make up the British team for the new Olympic match racing event, were special guests at the official groundbreaking for the new Weymouth Tower yesterday.

They dug the earth and were hoisted by a crane nearly 40 metres skywards for a taste of the ‘spectacular’ views that will be available to visitors from July.

The £3.5million attraction on the corner of Weymouth Pier, alongside the ferry terminal, will overlook the Olympic Festival Village, and provide a bird’s eye view of the event course where the sailors will be vying for medals in the Elliot 6m class.

The tower, operated by Merlin Entertainments, the Poole-based owner of Weymouth Sea Life Park, will be 53 metres tall and on a clear day it will offer views far beyond Weymouth Bay along the Jurassic coast.

The 70-person capacity observation pod will revolve a full 360 degrees during its ascent and descent, which is expected to last around 10 minutes.

Merlin Entertainment bosses have pledged that it will cost ‘significantly under £10 per person.’ Tower and Sea Life boss Craig Dunkerley said: “Work is already underway and so far we’re ahead of schedule.

“This is a preview of the sort of views we hope our visitors can get this summer. We’ll certainly have it open before the Olympic sailing starts on July 29.

“We were about 15m short of what it will be and it was still breathtaking, even on a grey blustery day.”

He added: “It was fantastic the Match Race Girls could come down and get a view of the courses they’re going to be racing on for the Olympics.”

Annie, Kate and Lucy, have just returned from Perth, Australia, where they claimed silver and narrowly lost their ‘world champions’ crown to the US team.

Looking ahead to the next six months, Annie, 31, said: “It’s scary but also exciting that 2012 is now here, I feel ready to get on with it now.”

Lucy, 25, said: “At midnight on New Year’s Eve I was like ‘Wow, it’s 2012 already’.

“Time is going by very quickly, we’re really excited but there’s still plenty to do.”

Kate, 20, added: “People keep saying ‘You can win it’ but the pressure is from ourselves, we know we can do it.”

Weymouth Tower facts

Operator – Merlin Entertainments group

Cost - £3.5million

Height – 53 metres

Weight – 130 metric tons

Capacity – 70

Central column – 2.5m diameter

Manufacturer – Huss, of Bremen

Opening – July 2012

Observation deck – Revolves 360 degrees

Main contractor – TG Cruse Construction Ltd

General manager - Craig Dunkerley