London 2012 day six: Percy, Simpson and Ainslie assured of medals

As British sailors dominate the 470s

49er

It was a big and potentially very risk day for the high performance Olympic skiffs which sailed three races, each four laps of a windward-leeward, on the tricky Nothe course for the entertainment of spectators.

In the first race it was the US team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore who rounded the top mark first ahead of Poland's Lukasz Przybytek and Pawel Kolodzinski and Finland's Lauri Lehtinen and Kalle Bask with the Australians down in 13th and the Brits 17th.

The Finns overhauled the Poles on the run and then moved into the lead on the second beat with the Aussies and Brits still buried. By the third weather mark rounding the Germans Tobias Schadewaldt and Hannes Baumann were up to third. On the final lap the front three positions remained with the Finns out in front with the Aussies up to ninth but the Brits still struggling down in 19th. These positions remained at the finish with the Brits moving up two spots on the final beat.

In the second race it was the German's turn to reach the top mark first, just ahead of the overlapped Kiwis Peter Burling/Blair Tuke and Italy's Giuseppe Angilella/Gianfranco Sibello with the Brits in a more promising 5th, behind Spanish stars Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez.

By the third weather mark rounding the Germans were still leading but being threatened by the Kiwis with the Brits up to fourth. These positions held to the finish with the Aussie favourites Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen fifth.

In the third race it was the Kiwis Peter Burling and Blair Tuke first at the weather mark with France's Manu Dyen and Stéphane Christidis on their transom ahead of the Spanish. THe Aussies were fifth with the Brits down the pan again in 15th. At the leeward gate the Kiwis and French rounded more or less together with the Finns and Poles back in the frame, but with the Kiwis extending slightly up the second beat and the Finns up to third. These positions held until the finish with the Aussies pulling back to fifth but with the Brits having another big score finishing 20th.

Coming ashore Stevie Morrison was less talkative than normal after their 17-4-20, dropped them to fourth place, 32 points off the lead: "It was a pretty tricky day – obviously pretty disappointed. It was just a hard day on the Nothe. It is gusty and shifty, it is a really short first beat and we didn’t get off the start as well as we’d like and you got punished pretty hard if that happened. So go away, refocus and there is plenty left ot play for..."

The Brits suffered another capsize when they gybed into a lull to the extent that they capsized to windward.

The 49er have a layday on Saturday and Morrison says it will be a chance to rest. "We have four races before the medal race. We have proved how up and down you can move through the fleet. We'll be out on a bigger course in West Bay on Sunday so it will be more conventional sailing and we’ll be able to use our boat speed a bit more and hopefully begin chipping away again."

See the race reports on the Finn, Star, 470 Men, 470 Women, 49er, Laser Men, Laser Women, Rick Tomlinson's photo gallery and Carlo Borlenghi's photo gallery.

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