Brits rule the waves

Victory in the Star World Championship is the pinnacle of achievement for Olympic sailors, as it is considered more difficult to win than the Olympic gold medal in the same class, but that was what Sydney gold medallist Iain Percy and his crew, Steve Mitchell, achieved in Marina del Rey, near Los Angeles. From a fleet of 103, Percy and Mitchell became the first Britons to win this title in the 81-year history of this class.

They defeated 11 previous winners of the title, including such illustrious names as Paul Cayard (USA) and Torben Grael (Brazil) and the double Olympic champion, Mark Reynolds (USA), and after only 10 months of sailing a Star, traditionally regarded as a boat which benefits from considerable experience in the class.

Going into the final race, Percy and Mitchell knew a medal was safe, but had to stay close to Grael and Marcello Ferriera and avoid their attentions to take the gold because the Brazilians were in a position to sail them down the fleet and take the championship. They also had to take note of Xavier Rohart and Yannick Adde of France, the only other pair who could win the title.

Percy and Mitchell reacted in the best way possible, sailing from the left-hand end of the 1,000-metre-long starting line and crossing the fleet halfway up the first leg. They led all the way round to win both the race and the championship. Until this week, neither Percy nor Mitchell had been aware that no Briton had won this title. 'It certainly adds something to it,' said Percy.

Fellow Olympic champion Ben Ainslie, taking over where Percy left off in the Finn class, completed a remarkable treble by winning the Olympic Test Regatta at Piraeus, where the 2004 Games will be held. He added this to the European and World Championship of the class that he won last month.

He had only to sail the last two races conservatively to win, such was his earlier domination. His team-mate, Andrew Simpson, took the silver medal.

Britain's other Olympic champion sailor, Shirley Robertson, is finally beginning to master the three-person Yngling with her crew, Inga Leask and Sarah Ayrton. At Piraeus, they finished with the bronze medal after recovering from a premature start in the final race to finish 17th.

It was their best result so far in this class. 'We sailed pretty well,' commented Robertson, 'and got better as the week went on.'