The new British crew of Penny and Saskia Clark got off to a flying start at the first European leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Spain on Sunday.
The pair, competing in their first international regatta since joining forces after the Beijing Games, top the leaderboard in the 470 women’s event at the end of the first day of the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma, with Skandia Team GBR enjoying a solid first day’s racing.
Penny Clark, who competed in the single-handed Laser Radial boat at the Beijing Games, has since jumped ship to the 470 two-person event, and her new partnership with Olympic 470 crew Saskia Clark saw them pick up a second and a fourth from their opening two races of the regatta.
“It was a good first day,” Saskia explained. “We were pretty pleased with our upwind speed so will be looking to improve on other bits around the race track as the week goes on.”
Development squad sailor Andrew Mills sees himself in second place on the Finn leaderboard at the close of play on Sunday, closely followed by British stablemate Ed Wright in third.
Mills picked up an eighth in the first race, but then led the fleet across the line in a second race which saw the four Skandia Team GBR boats all finish inside the top ten.
“A couple of great results for me today,” said Mills. “I was looking to get top tens in each race just to try and get a bit of consistency at the start of the season and I got a first as well, so it was a great day.
“We’ve trained a lot out here during the winter, getting to know the water and how the wind’s going to work so that’s probably helped,” said Mills of the benefits of his winter training. “I’m using some new kit as well, some new shaped sails which seem to work nicely.”
Beijing bronze medallist Bryony Shaw is poised in fourth place in the RS:X women’s fleet.
Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe are in fourth and fifth places respectively in the 2.4mR Paralympic class, while Charlotte Dobson is currently the top British Laser Radial sailor, in 11th overall after two races.
Racing at the Princess Sofia Trophy continues on Monday 6 April, with the medal races scheduled for Friday 10 April.
