After three more races for the Finns at the Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth, the points at the top have closed up. Jonathan Lobert (FRA) still leads but his points gaps is down to 5.4 from Ben Ainslie (GBR) while Giles Scott GBR) moves up to third after winning the first two races. The third race was won by Zach Railey (USA).

Overnight the top 10 had changed slightly. A protest for redress for an error in moving the windward mark from Dan Slater, Ben Ainslie and Ed Wright gave them all average points which significantly improved their position after day two and gave them something to consolidate on Wednesday.

After a short postponement to allow the wind to settle day three got underway in a 10-12 knot breeze with three races scheduled to catch up with the programme.

In race four Dan Slater (NZL) led at the first mark from Ed Wright (GBR) and Giles Scott (GBR). Scott took the lead on the first downwind and gradually extended to take his first race win of the week by a comfortable margin.

Daniel Birgmark (SWE) climbed through the fleet to third at the gate to finally place second, while Slater ended up in third. The fight between second third and fourth was very tight, but the fastest climber of the day was Zach Railey (USA) who rounded the first mark 40th and moved up to 12th at the gate, to finally cross the finish in 11th.

Scott continued his good form in race five by leading all the way to take his second race win of the day by another large margin. Ben Ainslie (GBR) finally broke into the top three finishing in second with regatta leader Jonathan Lobert (FRA) in third.

Read the full story here: http://www.sail-world.com/UK/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=73219&SRCID=0&ntid=0&ticker...

Laser world champion Paul Goodison and windsurfer Nick Dempsey both surged through the rankings in testing Weymouth conditions to secure Britain the lead in two of the ten Olympic classes at Skandia Sail for Gold.

Ben Ainslie demonstrated a rock-solid return to form by rising to second in the Finn class while Star sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson also hit their straps on the third and best day of the regatta so far for the British Olympic sailing squad.

Dempsey, who lives and trains in Weymouth, took the overall lead after posting a first and second in the RS:X Mens class but admitted the conditions were anything but typical.

"There were lots of shifts and the right hand side of the course was working quite well which was not normal so we learned a lot," said Dempsey, the current windsurfing world champion.

"I am not winning because of any home advantage but because I'm racing better than some of the other guys so far. Everyone in the squad is sailing well so we are on target to do as well as we'd hoped."

Dempsey's wife Sarah Ayton, the double gold medallist, was not in such good spirits after finishing 25th in their last 470 Women's race of the day having earlier posted a third place while Penny Clarke and Katrina Hughes celebrated their return from injury to finish top among the Brits in eighth.

Paul Goodison completed his first victory in the Laser class for the overall lead while Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes found the 15 knot breeze to their liking to finish fourth as one of four British 49er teams in the top ten.

Giles Scott scored two outright wins in the Finns and is now in third place snapping at Ainslie's heels while Lucy MacGregor recorded a 100% record in the new women's match racing class to qualify for the quarter finals.

The Ellen MacArthur Trust has held its first long-distance cruising week for young people, recovering from cancer or other serious illnesses.

The youngsters, who had all previously sailed with the trust, set off from Yarmouth on Sunday, August 1.

They then sailed to Weymouth, where they were treated to a fireworks show, then to Brixton, for a beach barbeque, and Poole, before returning to Yarmouth on Friday 6.

James Kemp, 17 from Kent, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphona on New Year's Day 2006 and was one of the 12-to-19-year-old youngsters on the trip.

James was on his third trip with the Ellen Macarthur Trust and he said: 'I was really looking forward to sailing with the trust again, as every time I do it boosts my confidence.

'I get to meet new friends and the trust has given me experiences which I could only have dreamt of before.'

There were close on 1,000 people competing at Skandia Sail for Gold 2010 starting at Weymouth on Monday but all eyes were on Britain’s Ben Ainslie, who emerged as a medal contender despite a two-year absence from Olympic sailing.

He made a faltering start in the blustery conditions, finishing his first Finn race since the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 in 13th place. But as the wind freshened, he charged through the ranks in the second to finish fourth.

“It took me the first race to get my technique back but the second went really well and I passed by some of the top guys to finish fourth so was pleased,” he said.

“I had two really good starts but didn’t quite get the first beats right because the wind was shifty and hard to read.

“Andrew Mills, of Skandia Team GBR, did really well to win the last race and I was really impressed with the French guy Jonathan Lobert, who had two top-three results.

“It was pretty much as I expected though in those conditions I felt I would be left behind so it was a good first day,” he added after a difficult day where the winds in Weymouth Bay reached more than 15 knots.

Ainslie aims to finish the next four days’ racing in the top 10 to qualify for the medal race on Saturday.

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson had a day to forget after breaking their forestay shortly after the first race and arriving late to start the second, which left them at the bottom of the Star fleet.

Nic Asher and Elliot Willis finished equal first in the 470 Men’s class while Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell posted a win followed by a seventh place to finish third on a promising first day for Britain’s 470 sailors.

World champion Paul Goodison also started well in the Laser class to lead overnight though Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clarke struggled in the 470 Women’s after being shown the black flag for a premature start in the second race having finished as runners up in the first.

Chris Draper and Pete Greenhalgh, who are favourites to secure the British 49er spot for London 2012, finished third overall after three races with Beijing 2008 representatives Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes sixth and John Pink and Rick Peacock 11th.

"Lucy might be ranked No 1 in the world but she hasn't won the last four World Cup events so this is about ticking all the boxes because the Olympic Games is about winning one event," said Stephen Park, Skandia Team GBR manager.

"We have three teams entered here and they are all pretty much new teams. We can't expect too much from Pippa because she has only been doing match racing for two weeks but it is fantastic to have her back."

There could be a further switch if the teams do not fare well in Weymouth, where the regatta is being held at the same time as the Olympic Games in two years' time.

Due to the need for sailors to familiarise themselves with the constantly changing Weymouth conditions, the event has attracted the largest number of boats of any ISAF World Cup event with 720 entries from 57 nations, including 129 from Britain.

Ben Ainslie has modestly targeted a top-10 place in the Finn class owing to his lack of preparation for the event and Beijing Star gold medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, who have been racing alongside Ainslie in Team Origin's intensive 2010 programme, are praying for light conditions that suit them.

"We have not been in the boat since the Star worlds in January," said Percy, who will be up against Brazilian Torben Grael, winner of five Olympic medals.

"It is not an ideal way to prepare but it is one step along the way to 2012. It will allow us to keep our hand in with the class and Skandia Team GBR and to learn more about the venue which we haven't sailed in much over the past five years.

"It might bite us in the bum if it is very windy and we are unfit but a tricky light wind day where you are having fun, can work in your favour."

More than 100 traditional boats made their way to Plymouth last weekend for what organisers are hailing the best Sutton Harbour Classic Boat Rally ever.

The rally, which is part of the Sutton Harbour Festival, featured many fine vessels including the 96-foot two-masted topsail schooner Johanna Lucretia, the Tamar sailing barge Shamrock, from the National Trust’s Cotehele estate and Spirit of Mystery, the replica Cornish lugger in which Pete Goss completed a re-enactment of an 11,800-mile journey from Cornwall to Australia last year.

For the first time this year there was also a shoreside boatshow with over 40 stalls from local boatyards and marine suppliers, marine artists, traditional crafts and marine book sellers, together with the RNLI and Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. Monday’s Parade of Sail was a spectacular end to the Classic Boat Rally and drew crowds of onlookers as the vessels set sail from Sutton Harbour marking the end an outstanding weekend of events both at sea and alongside.

Nigel Godefroy, chief executive of the Sutton Harbour Group, said: "There's nothing quite like the sight of these magnificent vessels under sail and set against the wonderful backdrop of Sutton Harbour and the Hoe. We were blessed with fantastic weather which made for lots of spectators, a great atmosphere and a truly special finale for this year's Sutton Harbour Classic Rally, which I'm delighted to say has been a real success"

While the sailing at Cowes Week draws to a close, a different breed has sights set on the same venue with the 50th running of the world famous Cowes-Torquay-Cowes offshore powerboat race.

It takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend following a week of various national events for the smaller classes.

The main race, which launched modern offshore powerboat sport outside the United States in 1961, has attracted one of the largest fleets in recent years with a true international line-up seeing competitors from Italy, Austria and the United States.

The main difference to the current UIM world championship is that all craft taking part in the main event at Cowes will be monohulls. Catamarans are not accepted.

Known as the Marathon Class, these boats are an important departure from multihulls and have done much to encourage a revival in genuine offshore racing.

Read the full story here: http://www.mby.com/news/494695/cowes-torquay-cowes-set-to-break-records?utm_s...

Neville Upton and The Listening Company team aboard a Jeanneau Sunfast 37 have won Black Group overall, writes Sue Pelling/CWL.

Upton raced in the same fleet last year but just missed out on a Black Group win, so not surprisingly he is delighted to have finally clinched the title. "I think it's a case of completing unfinished business," said an extremely happy Upton.

"It feels great to have won the Black Group this year. I feel there is real closure on it. We have had a great week, it's been really good fun and obviously to finish off winning it is pretty exhilarating."

As CEO of The Listening Company, a contact centre specialist which employs 4,000 people across the UK who work for large corporations and Government providing a variety of customer relationship services, Upton said they have eight core values, two of them are teamwork and winning. "We have to win for our clients every day so it's very important as a competitive advantage so we can give them competitive differentiation to be better.

"We get eight people on the boat, some of whom have never been on there before, so they are completely outside their comfort zone. You have to work together, it's no good simply just having someone great steering the boat, every little bit of the team has to work really well; it's perfect team-work environment and it is great way to get to know clients."

British Sailing Team Manager Stephen Park is confident his charges will put up a tough challenge on the waters of Weymouth and Portland when the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta gets underway on Monday (9 August).

The regatta, which marks the seventh and final leg of the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup series, will see a near-complete line-up of Britain’s best Olympic and Paralympic Classes sailors pitting their wits against the world’s best over six days of competition at the site of the 2012 sailing competition.

The event marks the return of Ben Ainslie (pictured) to the Finn racetrack for the first time since the Beijing Games, with fellow Beijing gold medallists Paul Goodison, Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson and Sarah Ayton, plus many more Skandia Team GBR World and European Champions across the 10 Olympic and three Paralympic classes set to race this week.

Read the full story here: http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/GBRsailingmanagerParkhails%E2%80%...

Ben Ainslie and the crew of TEAMORIGIN have won the 1851 Cup.

On this the fourth day of racing, both teams appeared to have their aggression glands fully open going into today’s third race.

In the pre-start Ben Ainslie at the helm of TEAMORIGIN did a fine job shovelling James Spithill’s BMW ORACLE Racing crew well beyond the right side of the start box and the starboard tack layline back to the committee boat. As a result both boats were late for the start line, but it allowed TEAMORIGIN to cross ahead by one to two boat lengths.

Straight into the first beat and the two boats wasted no time in engaging in a tacking duel, with BMW ORACLE Racing behind and only managing to shake TEAMORIGIN’s cover by successfully pulling off a dummy tack. This saw the American team heading off to the left and the British to the right. However the right side benefitted TEAMORIGIN which further up the beat crossing ahead of BMW ORACLE Racing to take the left. Heading into the weather mark on the port layline they rounded 18 seconds ahead.

The British boat’s lead was enough for them to be out of reach of the Americans on the run, although with the wind rising, a significant ebb tide now flowing across the course and a giant container ship bearing down on them, there was caution all around.

TEAMORIGIN rounded the leeward gate safely and the two boats engaged in a tacking duel up the second beat that saw BMW ORACLE Racing close on them. However rounding the top mark for the final time in the strong wind TEAMORIGIN set their spinnaker successfully but seconds later when BMW ORACLE Racing tried this same manoeuvre they didn’t manage to get the halyard fully up and when the spinnaker set its foot dropped into the water pulling the sail down with it and causing them to sail over it.

 Following this disaster for the American team it was game over and Ben Ainslie and the TEAMORIGIN crew cruised to victory both in the race, also winning them the 1851 Cup with a 10-4 score.