A second day of difficult sailing conditions at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma saw Shirley Robertson break into the top three in the Yngling class, and Skandia Team GBR s young guard making their mark across a number of other Olympic classes.
Palma Bay saw unsettled winds for the second day in a row on Monday (2 April), meaning a delayed start for the 860 boats in the Olympic disciplines due to race at this first major regatta of the European season but once racing was finally underway, there were a number of unexpected British contenders making their presence known at the front of the fleet.
In the 470 men s class, development squad sailors Luke Patience and Chris Grube notched up two third places from their opening two races to see them in fourth place overall at the end of day two, while 2005 Youth Worlds bronze medallists Tom Mallindine and James Clark posted a commendable sixth and ninth to put them into 15th place.
New development squad pairing Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes got their regatta off to a superb start with a third from their first race in the 470 women s fleet, followed by an 11th to see them in ninth place overall, while Giles Scott, 19 and competing in his first major international regatta in the Finn class since making the switch from the Laser last autumn, finished the day as top Brit in the men s heavyweight class thanks to a tenth place from the fleet s only race so far.
Skandia Team GBR s more seasoned campaigners endured mixed fortunes amidst the overcast and shifty conditions. Shirley Robertson, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor made gains in the Yngling fleet, with a fourth place from their only race of the day enough to see them improve to third place overall behind Russian and German crews.
It s been a tricky two days, admitted Robertson. It s very unusual weather for Palma with shifting and light breezes but we ve been lucky so far and are looking forward to the rest of the week s racing and hopefully some more stable conditions.
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson are currently in sixth place overall in what s looking likely to be a closely-fought regatta in the women s keelboat event.
In the 49er class Paul Campbell James and Mark Asquith posted Skandia Team GBR s best results of the day, with two thirds from their two races, while Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks posted a seventh and were then caught prematurely over the start line in their second race of the day. The third 49er group, containing overnight leaders and Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes, managed just one race before the wind died out for the day. The European Champions finished in fifth and will be the first group to sail out on Tuesday.
The Tornado class, also contesting their European Championships in Palma, managed to complete two races today, with Leigh McMillan and Will Howden poised in fourth place overall.
"It was another hard day out there with plenty of shifts and huge pressure differences, explained Howden. We sailed reasonably well again today, sometimes we were unlucky with the role of the dice, tomorrow looks to be the same again with three races scheduled.
We are fairly happy with fourth at this point but tomorrow will be a very important day for us!!
The RS:X windsurfers finally got a race in today, with Nick Dempsey crossing fifth in the men s fleet and a respectable 14th for Youth squad sailor Richard Hamilton, while Lucy Horwood and Bryony Shaw finished in fifth and seventh places respectively in the women s event.
Paul Goodison and Charlotte Dobson are currently the top British sailors in the Laser and Laser Radial classes European Champion Goodison is in 18th place and Dobson 13th after two races each.
Racing at the Princess Sofia Trophy continues through until Friday 6 April.