Morning briefing

What lies in store today in Athens

Yesterday winds gusting up to more than 30 knots saw racing cancelled for all but two of the seven classes, including the first races for the 49er.

Today the four race committees running the separate courses off Glyfada will be attempting to make up for hit to their schedule. The 49ers scheduled for a layday today will instead be out on the water for their first three races - the Olympic skiff is unique in sailing three races instead of two per day as their Olympics sees them sailing 16 races rather than 11.

"This was the kind of day that if you had made it around the race course you would’ve been lucky," said the US team's 49er skipper Tim Wadlow. "I think the organisers made the right decision, especially since we have a class rule that says the racing must be abandoned if there are any gusts past 30 knots."

In 49er the British pair Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks will be the team to watch alongside Spaniards Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez, who bounced back from a year of injury to win the 49er World Championships in April, held just a few miles away from the Olympic sailing area.

Of the 19 boats that have been through the rigorous measurement process over the last few days, 10 are built by Ovington and 9 by Mackay, so there is an indication that the UK and New Zealand boat builders have produced very even equipment. (See Andy Rice's preview to the 49er class here).

After the postponement of their two races yesterday both 470 classes will be back on the water today, despite having a layday scheduled.

In the 470 Men team GBR's Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield will be continuing their 'fast but safe' policy to defend their five point lead over the French team of Gildas Philippe and Nicolas Le Berre, just three points ahead of American Olympic veterans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham. We can expect to the Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page as well as the Argentian team of Javier Conte and Juan de la Fuente pulling up through the ranks after their disappointing first day of racing on Saturday.

In the Women's 470 Greek leaders Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa hold a more tenuous lead - just one point ahead of the Danish duo Susanne and Michaela Ward. Like the men's class there is no clear favourite emerging with a Ainslie or Sundby-like immaculate scoreline and there are a number of top contenders who should be doing better. These include Holland's Lisa Westerhof and Margriet Matthijsse who are fighting back from a disqualification in race two and the Sydney Gold medallists Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell who have so far put in four decidedly average races and currently hold a lowly 14th place in the 20 strong fleet.

The Europes and Lasers will also be racing today. No surprises that in the former Norway's Siren Sundby holds a three point lead despite having sailed just two races. To date Mexico's Tania Elias Calles seems to be punching above her weight holding a respectable fifth place. Conversely in the Lasers the present leader is the less obvious Austrian Andreas Geritzer. No.14 in the world according to the ISAF rankings he may be by Geritzer currently holds a six point lead over Brazilian favourite Robert Scheidt.

The Finns and Ynglings are on a layday today. While the sailing press have been focussing on Ben Ainslie's staggering fight back into first place following Saturday's disqualification in race two, this has overshadowed the exceptional lead that Shirley Robertson and the Sarahs Ayton and Webb have pulled out in the Yngling class where they now lead on 11 points ahead of the Russians and Ukrainians on 24 and 26 points respectively.

Sarah Webb commented after racing yesterday: “We have not looked at the results to be honest, we know we are at the halfway stage though but we are certainly not thinking of anything yet. To be honest I think we will be fine if we just carry on doing what we have been doing so far.” Too right.

As ever today's weather will be significant. Yesterday the forecast was for the Meltemi offshore breeze which the British sailors seem to prefer to continue, but the latest thinking is that today will be a transistional day between the Meltemi and the sea breeze that will see the wind shift from the northwest to the south over the course of the afternoon and building from 8-10 knots. Typically this shift affects the more southerly courses first, such as course A where the Europes and Lasers will today be doing battle.

Richard Simmonds tells us that today the BBC Interactive coverage will feature the Lasers.