British sailors took major strides in their quest for world championship medals and Olympic selection in Cadiz yesterday

In the two-man Star class Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell fought off attacks from French and Swedish crews to remain in the lead going into their final weekend of racing at the ISAF world championship in Cadiz. Scoring two second places, the British pair’s consistency paid dividends for them despite wins for each of their rivals. The pair now lead the championship by four points going into the final three races.

Percy said: “You can’t control anything but your own sailing and we keep trying to put in good results and he (Xavier Rohart) does as well so we don’t seem to pull out at all, but on the whole we are pleased although it is amazing that there seems to be so little in the racing.”

Elsewhere Britain tops the fleet in the 49er class where Chris Draper and Sydney Olympic silver medal winner in the class, Simon Hiscocks have jumped out of the blocks to lead their event after the first two days of racing.

Draper and Hiscocks scored a 1,4,2 score line in shifty conditions to move them up to the top of the fleet into first place by one point from Christoffer Sundby/Frode Bovim of Norway. Fellow Brits Alister Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh came back from the disappointment of using up their discard on the first day due to a broken mast and are currently placed in 13th place overall, with Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith 16th.

Hiscocks commented: “As long as you keep getting steady results, when it comes to the final series it should be okay, it is not necessarily about winning every race more about being consistent. At the moment all is good, we like this breeze and we are just trying to sail a normal regatta and treat this regatta like any other we have sailed this year.”

Ben Ainslie and fellow British Finn sailor, Andrew Simpson, are both in podium positions with double Olympic medal winner Ainslie currently holding off his training partner who has been on fire in the last two days scoring two firsts and a third in the last three races.

Today should see Sydney gold medal winner Shirley Robertson and crew members, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton, pose the British Olympic Association (BOA) with their first selection decision as the competition in the women’s Yngling fleet finishes. Currently lying in sixth position overall, they need to sail to their potential to finish in the top eight which will put them in line for nomination to the BOA for the first official place in the British Olympic Team for Athens.

Just one race was sailed in the Tornado class and a second win from British sailors Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley saw them move up into second place overall, four points behind the 2000 Olympic silver medallists Darren Bundock and John Forbes of Australia.

Today also sees the penultimate day of the world championship in the Star and Mistral classes and the last day of qualifying in the 470, 49er, Laser and Tornado fleets. The Finn class has a lay day.

Results

Laser (day two)

1, Gustavo Lima, POR (1,1,3,2) 7 pts

2, Robert Scheidt, BRA (4,1,4,1) 10 pts

3, Vasilij Zbogar, SLO (4,2,3,1) 10 pts

GBR

9, Ed Wright (1,7,5,7) 20 pts

25, Paul Goodison (15,11,5,3) 34 pts

28, Mark James Howard (11,6,7,12) 36 pts

34, Tim Hulse (3,18,13,10) 44 pts

42, Jim Taylor (2,20,14,14) 50 pts

45, Andrew Commander (17,6,25,4) 52 pts

60, Mark Powell (19,13,8,23) 63 pts

65, Dan Holman (14,7,24,20) 65 pts

80, James Green (12,23,24,18) 77 pts

Tornado (day two)

1, Darren Bundock/John Forbes, AUS (2,1,2) 5 pts

2, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley, GBR (1,7,1) 9 pts

3, Yann Guichard/Christophe Espagnon, FRA (3,4,6) 13 pts

other GBR

7, Hugh Styles/Adam May (9,5,12) 26 pts

19, Ian Barker/Dan Newman (43,29,5) 77 pts

24, Rob Wilson/Martin Sellars (29,36,15) 80 pts

57, Andrew Walsh/Edward Barney (59,64,47) 170 pts

59, Leo Farrow/Tristan Lamb (60,60,53) 173 pts

470 Women (day two)

1, Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa, GRE (1,1,2,1) 5 pts

2, Lisa Westerhof/Margriet Matthijsse, NED (2,1,9,3) 15 pts

3, Vlada Ilienko/Natalia Gaponovich, RUS (2,4,6,3) 15 pts

GBR

8, Josie Gibson/Sue Parkin (5,8,12,2) 27 pts

17, Helena Lucas/Jenny Heeley (7,10,17,5) 38 pts

19, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (4,4,3,OCS) 40 pts

470 Men (day two)

1, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, ITA (1,1,2) 4 pts

2, Mathew Belcher/Daniel Belcher, AUS (5,1,5) 12 pts

3, Gideon Kliger/Ehud Gal, ISR (8,3,1) 12 pts

GBR

24, Nick Rogers/Joe Glandfield (10,10,9) 29 pts

38, Mark Plummer/Oliver Hawkley (14,11,17) 42 pts

46, Graham Vials/Bevis Field (20,20,6) 46 pts

47, Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (18,13,16) 47 pts

72, John Pink/John Gimson (29,18,21) 68 pts

90, Neil Marsden/Graham Nelson (29,29,28) 86 pts

49er (day two)

1, Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks, GBR (3,2,2,1,(4),2) 10 pts

2, Christoffer Sundby/Frode Bovim, NOR (2,1,(8),4,3,1) 11 pts

3, Marcus Baur/Max Groy, GER (3,2,(7),2,1,5) 13 pts

GBR

13, Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh (1,14, (DNC),7,4,4) 30 pts

16, Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith ((9),7,7,5,4,8) 31 pts

18, Stephen Morrison/Ben Rhodes (1,8,(11),6,6,11) 32 pts

54, Andrew Rice/Nicholas Murphy ((DNC),16,DNC,10,14,19) 90 pts

59, Alex Hopson/John Garth (18,(24),18,15,19,21) 91 pts

61, Ben Mcgrane/Jonathan Clegg (20,16,22,19,(DNF),18) 95 pts

74, Brian Wilson/Philip Kennard ((DNC),DNC,OCS,20,17,24) 123 pts

Finn (day three)

1, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, DEN (4,3,6,2,8,(23)) 23 pts

2, Ben Ainslie, GBR (3,5,7,8,(19),4) 27 pts

3, Andrew Simpson, GBR (32,14,9,1,1,3) 28 pts

GBR

18, Charlie Cumbley (7,12,24,(47),29,20) 92 pts

21, Dave Mellor ((51),16,21,6,17,35) 95 pts

39, Matt Howard (44,38,(63),40,36,19) 177 pts

46, Edward Greig ((57),36,42,38,39,32) 187 pts

Star – Gold fleet (after day four)

1, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell, GBR ((13),1,1,2,1,1,2,2) 10 pts

2, Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau, FRA (1,2,(5),2,3,1,4,1) 14 pts

3, Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE (3,6,2,3,2,3,1,(DNC)) 20 pts

Mistral Men – Gold fleet (after day four)

1, Przemek Miarczynski, POL (1,1,1,(8),1,1,1,1) 7 pts

2, Joao Rodrigues, POR (4,3,3,1,4,11,(23),3) 29 pts

3, Julien Bontemps, FRA (1,2,7,3,2,16,3,(22)) 34 pts

GBR

8, Nick Dempsey ((14),7,4,6,4,3,11,6) 41 pts

25, Dominic Tidey (16,12,7,19,3,6,(51),44) 107 pts

56, Leo McCallin (20,24,22,33,50,27,34,48) 208 pts

Mistral Women (after day four)

1, Lee Korsitz, ISR (1,4,3,6,1,(32),2,2) 19 pts

2, Allison Shreeve, AUS ((24),14,4,2,2,1,1,3) 27 pts

3, Barbara Kendall, NZL (2,1,(12),5,11,9,4,1) 33 pts

GBR

13, Natasha Sturges (18,(21),18,15,10,7,10,16) 94 pts

33, Bryony Shaw (23,44,28,34,(46),42,22,13) 206 pts

Yngling (after day five)

1, Ulrike Schuemann/Wibke Buelle/Winnie Lippert, GER (15,(27),1,1,13,2,2,10,4,1) 49 pts

2, Hannah Swett/Joan Touchette/Melissa Purdy, USA ((16),12,2,7,1,10,4,1,1,12) 50 pts

3, Kristin Wagner/Anna Hoell/Veronika Lochbrunner, GER ((27),24,3,2,4,4,8,3,5,8) 61 pts

GBR

6, Shirley Robertson/Sarah Webb/Sarah Ayton ((37),18,5,10,2,3,1,18,3,21) 81 pts

10, Cathy Foster/Jane Norris/Annie Lush (22,23,10,5,10,(28),3,7,20,11) 111 pts

39, Dominica Lyndsey/Lucy Burn/Vicky Symmers (40,39,29,34,OCS,41,(DNC),DNC,40,27) 334 pts

Europe – Gold fleet, final results

1, Siren Sundby, NOR (1,1,3,5,2,3,14,1,23,1,(DNC)) 54 pts

2, Sari Multala, FIN (1,1,2,1,33,(53),1,15,1,6,1) 62 pts

3, Mary Gaillard, USA (9,4,3,7,5,8,21,(33),5,9,10) 81 pts

GBR

26, Laura Baldwin (29,30,23,25,29,10,20,(43),22,12,13) 213 pts

55, Nicky Muller (9,31,20,18,54,47,34,55,34,44,(54)) 345 pts