British sailors consolidate at the top

British sailors maintain their form to top the results tables in four classes after day four of the final Olympic Test Event in Qingdao (CHN).

Yngling World Champions Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, windsurfer Bryony Shaw, Laser European Champion Paul Goodison and double Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie in the Finn class all posted solid results to lead their respective classes.

Winds of 4-9 knots greeted the 2008 Olympic sailing venue on Saturday, allowing event officials to claw back some ground after Friday’s light conditions made racing impossible.

Ainslie extended his lead over the rest of the Finn fleet to 10 points, scoring a race win and a second from his two races today, while Bryony Shaw continued her impressive run with a 1,3 from today to keep her in pole position ahead of France’s Faustine Merret in second, and local hero Jian Yin in third.

Ayton, Webb and Wilson hold on to their lead at the top of the Yngling leaderboard – they posted a first in the first race and held on to finish seventh in the second race in spite of their backstay shackle coming undone.  The Skandia Team GBR crew is now on equal on points with American world silver medallists Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi, while Paul Goodison leads the second placed Argentinean Julio Alsogaray by six points in the single handed Laser class.

Athens silver medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield drop to third place overall after a 5,9 from their two races today, but are just two points adrift from the top spot.

“The tide was definitely the biggest factor today which made for some very close racing again,” said Glanfield.

“It’s still early in the game so we’re not too concerned – we just need to make sure we don’t get any big scores and hopefully we’ll keep ourselves in the running.”

Leigh McMillan and Will Howden have pulled themselves up to fourth place overall thanks to a third in the only race for the Tornado fleet on Saturday, while Skandia Team GBR’s youngest sailor, 21-year-old Charlotte Dobson has pulled herself into the top ten with a commendable 2,12 from her two races in the Laser Radial class.

49er World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes had an up and down day – they endured two sets of penalty turns after a start line infringement and then hitting the windward mark to post a 16th in the first race of the day, but gained some ground with a 2,7 in their subsequent races to put them into seventh place overall. 

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson drop to tenth in the Star class after a 15th today, Nick Dempsey is also in tenth in the men’s RS:X event, and Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark have improved their standing the women’s 470 fleet with a 2,12 from today.

Racing at the 2007 Olympic Test Event is scheduled through to Thursday 23 August.

2007 Qingdao International Regatta (Olympic Test Event)

Results