Olympic windsurfing bronze medallist Bryony Shaw saw the best British performance on a testing first day of racing at the French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres on Monday (26 April).
Light wind conditions continued to dominate the southern French venue, with speeds typically 4-5 knots across the courses, but Shaw managed to pick up a race win and a second to top the leaderboard in the women’s RS:X fleet after day two at this fourth leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series.
Shaw, 26, was involved in a tough battle with Spanish training partner Marina Alabau around the race track. The Spaniard crossed the finish line ahead of the Skandia Team GBR sailor in both races, but was disqualified from the second race for having crossed the startline early which handed the victory and the yellow leaders’ jersey to Shaw.
“It was good to get racing today,” Shaw explained. “The wind was so fickle we had a number of general recalls and there was a lot of waiting around, but we did get in a couple of fair races, even if they were a hellish pump-off in such light winds!
“I had some good battles with Marina, I was right on her the whole time and we were fronting up the fleet.
“It was hard work today, both physical and tactical, but it’s great to be up there.”
RS:X men’s World Champion Nick Dempsey also saw a solid start to his regatta, with two third places from his two races seeing him in third overall.
Racing at the French Olympic Sailing Week is set to resume on Tuesday 27 April, with the final medal races scheduled for Friday 30 April.
For the latest news and information, visit www.skandiateamgbr.com or follow us on Twitter (@skandiateamgbr) for race updates during the regatta.
