Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson are within touching distance of Great Britain’s first medal at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, heading into the final day of racing in the Star class today in bronze medal position.

Percy and Simpson consolidated their third place heading into Sunday’s penultimate day of racing for the two-man keelboat class, managing to post an eighth and a first in spite of Simpson feeling below par with a stomach upset.

The duo now head into today’s double-points scoring final medal race 10 points off of the gold medal position, currently occupied by Brazilians Robert Scheidt-Bruno Prada, and six points off Frenchmen Xavier Rohart-Pascal Rambeau in second. New Zealand’s defending World Champion Hamish Pepper is lurking just outside of the medal positions in fourth place, seven points behind the Skandia Team GBR sailors.

“It was a really hard day, with some very tricky racing out there again,” commented Percy. “But all credit to Andrew who kept on going when he hardly had any energy at all.”

Leigh McMillan and Will Howden will feature in the medal race for the Tornado class, also today. They’re out of the hunt for the medals, with results of 18,13 from their two races yesterda seeing them cast adrift from the leading group, but they will nonetheless be keen for a strong showing to hold on to their current position of fifth in the final standings.

European Champion Paul Goodison has dropped down to seventh place in the Laser class with a 26,11 from his two races on Sunday, while Charlotte Dobson has improved her standing to seventh in the Laser Radial event with the help of 8,6 – just ten points currently separate the young Scot from the silver medal position.

Nick Dempsey remains in fourth in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet, posting his first race win of the regatta, followed by a fifth, while Bryony Shaw drops to 11th overall with a 16,12 from her two races in the women’s RS:X fleet.

Christina Bassadone was kicking herself at her ninth place in the 470 women’s second race yesterday – after a great start to the day with a race win, she and Saskia Clark mistakenly thought they were early over the startline, so recrossed to avoid a costly penalty only to discover they’d had a clean start after all. They’re in sixth place overall.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield started the day well with their second consecutive bullet, only for their mast to break, forcing them to retire from their second race. Defending champions Nic Asher and Elliot Willis are the leading British crew in 12th overall.

The 49er fleet manage to complete their race schedule on Sunday, although current leaders Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes did get in their three races, with another respectable showing of 4,1,4 for their efforts. The 49er class will have to forego their scheduled layday today in order to get their race schedule back on track.

As well as medal race action for the Star and Tornado classes, today sees the Ynglingand Finn classes return to the water.

Racing at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, continues through until Friday 13 July.

Results
Tornado (after 8 races)
1. Fernando Echavarri-Anton Paz, Esp (34pts)
2. Carolijn Brouwer- Sebastien Godefroid, Bel (40pts)
3. Mitch Booth-Pim Nieuwenhuis, Ned (41pts)
Selected GBR
5. Leigh McMillan-Will Howden (69pts)

Star (after 9 races)
1.Robert Scheidt-Bruno Prada, Bra (15pts)
2. Xavier Rohart-Pascal Rambeau, Fra (19pts)
3. Iain Percy-Andrew Simpson, GBR (25pts)

Laser (after 8 races)
1. Tom Slingsby, Aus (31pts)
2. Mate Arapov, Cro (43pts)
3. Deniss Karpak, Est (45pts)
Selected GBR
7. Paul Goodison (56pts)

Laser Radial (after 8 races)
1. Petra Niemann, Ger (37pts)
2. Tania Elias Calles Wolf, Mex (39pts)
3. Nufar Edelmann, Isr (39pts)
Selected GBR
7. Charlotte Dobson (49pts)

RS:X Men (after 5 races)
1.Prezmyslaw Miarczynski, Pol (4pts)
2. Ricardo Santos, Bra (7pts)
3. Pietr Myska, Pol, (7pts)
Selected GBR
4. Nick Dempsey (11pts)

RS:X Women (after 5 races)
1. Zofia Klepacka, Pol (6pts)
2. Lise Vidal, Fra (12pts)
3. Alessandra Sensini, Ita (14pts)
Selected GBR
11. Bryony Shaw (21pts)

470 Men (after 4 races)
1.Nathan Wilmot-Malcolm Page, Aus (11pts)
2. Stuart McNay-Graham Biehl, USA (21pts)
3. Francisco Sanchez-Alejandro Ramos, Esp (22pts)
Selected GBR
12. Nic Asher-Elliot Willis (37pts)
24. Nick Rogers-Joe Glanfield (48pts)

470 Women (after 4 races)
1.Marcelien de Koning-Lobke Berkhout, Ned (9pts)
2. Giul Conti-Giovanna Micol, Ita (14pts)
3. Therese Thorgensson-Vendela Zachreisson, Swe (14pts)
Selected GBR
6. Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark (24pts)

49er
No further results at press time due to incomplete race schedule