Day three of the French Olympic Sailing Week at Hyeres on Tuesday (24 April) saw a British battle for honours at the top of the 49er fleet, amidst further light wind conditions.
The 49er fleet s three races today saw a shake up at the top of the leaderboard, with European Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes dropping from the number one position after posting three results outside of the top ten today, while John Pink and Simon Wheeler s second race win of the regatta helped boost up them into the top spot.
We ve been sailing well together, considering we re a new pair, said Pink. We ve had a few teething issues, but we also had a good regatta at the beginning of the month in Palma where we were often amongst the top three boats rounding the marks.
We re sailing fast, continued Wheeler and have been trying not to start to near the rest of the group this week so that we have clean air from the start. We re really pleased with how it s gone so far and will just carry on trying to string some consistent results together for the rest of the week.
The Skandia Team GBR development squad sailors are on equal points at the top of the table with World Champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, who saw their best results of the regatta today they had a 3,1,3 from the day s three races to improve their standing from eighth overnight, while Morrison and Rhodes are still in the chase, in fifth place in spite of their 25,10,14 today.
49er transitional squad crew Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign also put in a commendable performance on Tuesday, with two sixths and a second from their three races seeing them break into the top ten for the first day of gold fleet racing on Wednesday.
In the Paralympic Sonar class, two-time World Champions John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas had the perfect scoreline from their two races today. With some intense jostling for positions on the startline in the first race, the Israeli crew of Avi Zur, Prile Gai and Ofer Verfel were deemed to have crossed before the gun, allowing the British crew clear passage, while an aggressive start in the second race saw the Skandia Team GBR sailors get their noses in front and led for the whole race.
Race practice is really the key for us this week, as we don t have that many regattas, explained Stodel. We ve been practising our starting and have been looking for consistency on the line, so it s great that that s been working out.
In the single-handed 2.4mR Paralympic class, Helena Lucas posted her first race win of the regatta and is in the bronze medal position, while a 2,3 for Megan Pascoe sees her in fifth place overall.
Bryony Shaw and Ed Wright are in the silver medal positions in the RS:X women s and Finn fleets, while in the Yngling event, Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson have moved up to fifth place after their best day of the regatta so far they posted 1,5 from their two races. Victoria Rawlinson, Emma Rawlinson and Sue Monson are in seventh, and Shirley Robertson, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor have moved up to eleventh overall with 12,8 from today.
Nick Thompson and Paul Goodison crossed in second and eighth places respectively in the sole race in the Laser fleet; in the 470 men s event Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield are in 29th and Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark are in 25th in the women s 470 event.
Andrea Brewster is the top British contender in the Laser Radial event in 17th place with the help of a second from fleet s only race of the day, while the 23rd placed Chris Rashley and Marcus Lynch are the best placed Skandia Team GBR crew in the Tornado class. Windsurfer Nick Dempsey enjoyed a better day in the RS:X men s event, with a 9,4 for his efforts today pushing him up into 22nd place.
Racing at the 2007 French Olympic Sailing Week runs through until Friday 27 April.