British sailors got off to a steady start amid some testing conditions in Qingdao’s Fushan Bay on Saturday (9 August).
With many places changes resulting from the light and fickle wind conditions, it seemed more like a game of snakes and ladders than the first day of an Olympic sailing regatta. But the Brits managed to hold on, with the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson topping the class leaderboard after the first day.
The British Yngling trio also endured a testing first day, showing true grit in the first race to claw their way back into contention. The two-time World Champions Ayton, Webb and Wilson picked up an impressive nine places on the final downwind leg, going from 11th to their finishing position of second in their opening race of the Olympic regatta – and then went on to produce a third place in their second race of the day, to see them top the women’s keelboat class after day one.
“It’s definitely a patience game, especially in the light winds,” Sarah Webb commented.
“We could have easily given up on the first race but we knew we had to keep going and it all came good.”
Webb described their first day as: “hard work, but it was all about keeping to together and working well as a team, and making sure we were doing everything we could to pull our way up through the positions.
“It was incredibly, incredibly tight. Everyone goes pretty much the same speed and we went from last to second on the last run, so it was a really tough day but it was great to have got it done and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Results (top three) after day one:
Yngling (2 races)
1.Sarah Ayton-Sarah Webb-Pippa Wilson, GBR (5pts)
2. Jennifer Provan-Martha Henderson-Katie Abbott, CAN (9pts)
3. Mandy Mulder-Annemieke Bes-Merel Witteveen, NED (10pts)
Racing for the 49er fleet gets underway at 1300 local time (0600 BST) on Sunday, with three races scheduled for the class.
Also in action for Team GB on day two of the Olympic regatta are the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, with races three and four scheduled for both the Finn and Yngling classes.
