Perfect race conditions on day two (Monday 24 April) of the 2006 French Olympic Sailing Week in Hy res gave rise to a shake up amongst the podium positions.
In the 15 knot easterly breeze, Skandia Team GBR s sailors kept hold of top three positions in five of the eleven contested classes, with Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes posting four top three results including a bullet in the third race of the day to top the 49er table. The Exmouth duo are ahead of the Danish Hansen brothers on countback, with John Pink-Alex Hopson in ninth, Olympic bronze medallists Chris Draper-Simon Hiscocks in tenth and overnight leaders Paul Campbell James and Mark Asquith eleventh after six races.
Yngling trio Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Emma Rawlinson replacing sister Victoria who s studying for her medical exams had a lucrative day on the water, pushing up into second place after the day s three races, in spite of incurring a penalty in the second.
We played it a bit risky in the second, and had a close crossing with the Kiwi boat which ended up in us doing a 720, Ayton explained. But otherwise, we re working well and building towards the Worlds in La Rochelle which should have pretty similar conditions to here.
It s going really well so far. As we re sailing here with Emma, Victoria s sister, we re just trying to be cautious and trying to keep it simple so in that respect we re really pleased to have won the last race of the day.
In the Finn class, Ed Wright had an excellent day on the water, moving up from 18th overnight to a silver medal position today, while in the Laser Radial class, Laura Baldwin moved in the top three thanks to a third and a sixth from her two races.
Helena Lucas turned out another solid performance in the 2.4mR Paralympic class, scoring a bullet in her opening race before finishing behind main rival, Dutchman Thierry Schmitter, in the second.
The first race was great, and I won quite easily thanks to some brilliant conditions, some big waves and some awesome surf downwind, Lucas explained. The downwind legs were where I pulled out my biggest leads by just catching some good surf. In the second race I was just down on pace for some reason not really sure why but it was generally not a bad day!
470 girls Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark made great gains today, posting a 2,1 to finish the day in ninth, which should be boosted even further once the discard kicks in. Pippa Wilson and Sheena Craig are also in a strong position, with a 15,4 to elevate them two positions to sixth from today s racing.
The 470 men improved on their first day s positions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis move up to sixth from ninth yesterday, while development squad sailors Luke Patience and Chris Grube had a massive boost. The Scots-Welsh combination posted a 2,3,2 to raise them up from 75th last night to 11th at the close of play on Monday.
The Tornado course may have been gusting up to 21 knots, but Skandia Team GBR campaigners Rob Wilson-Mark Bulkeley and Andy Wright-Ed Barney continue to push for their berths in Friday s final medal race in spite of Bulkeley taking a spill at the windward mark in the first race and leaving Wilson to negotiate the downwind leg single-handed until he could retrieve his crew from the water.
A mast breakage in the first race of the day for Laser European Champion Paul Goodison has seem him fall down the pecking order, at least until the discard takes effect, while windsurfers Nick Dempsey and Lucy Horwood have clawed their way back into contention in the RS:X class after a difficult first day. Olympic bronze medallist Dempsey currently lies in tenth, and Horwood is eleventh in the women s fleet.