Team GB’s sailors endured another mixed bag of results at the Olympic sailing regatta in Qingdao on Wednesday (13 August).
The wind conditions across Fushan Bay were the lightest they’ve been since the start of competition, with a full race schedule possible in just four of the seven classes to be racing on this fifth day.
The trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson extended their lead at the top of their respective Finn and Yngling fleets, with both British boats finishing second in their only race of the day.
The Yngling girls – two-thirds of whom are defending champions from Athens – continued their confident form, pulling five points ahead of their nearest rivals, Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen of the Netherlands.
Sarah Webb confirmed Ainslie’s view of the light conditions on racecourse E: “It was right on the edge, but it was a good race, it was a fair race – it was great for us to have got a race in and for it to have gone our way so from our point of view, we’re very happy.”
“There was an individual recall at the start,” she explained. “We were very close and we weren’t entirely sure whether to go back or not, but Pippa was pretty confident that we weren’t over so she made the call, we backed her and off we went up the beat.
“We came through, pulled up through the fleet again and ended up with a really good result,” Webb added.
Having led from start to finish, Penny Clark scored a race win in the only race of the day for the Laser Radial fleet, to see her up to fifth place overall after three races.
Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark are poised in 11th with 15,13 from their two races on Wednesday.
You can follow the racing online at www.rya.org.uk/beijing2008, where you will get updates from the dinghy park and the results as they come in, as well as the news from the Team GB camp. You can also leave messages of support for the team and your comments on the racing and Team GB’s prospects.
