Patience and Bithell, and Mills and Clark earn medals to crown successful campaign

Two British crews assured themselves of at least silver medals at Weymouth Bay but hopes of a bronze evaporated in the only class to hold its medal decider yesterday.

The nerves and the sleepless nights can finally give way to a family holiday as Nick Dempsey has two Olympic medals of his own – like his wife – after winning a silver in the men's windsurfer class yesterday in front of a home crowd cheering him all the way. They will have another British medal to cheer tomorrow.

A silver medal for windsurfer Nick Dempsey is still a real prospect after the gold was wrapped up with two races to spare by Dorian van Rijsselberge of The Netherlands.

Ben Ainslie has set himself the toughest of tests if he is to secure a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in what amounts to a "race-off" with his main rival, Denmark's Jonas Hogh-Christensen, tomorrow.

The battle on the water turned to a war of words ashore as Britain's Ben Ainslie and the Olympic thorn in his side who is Denmark's Jonas Hogh Christensen traded accusations over an incident that could have cost Ainslie valuable points.

In a bid to reverse the decision to throw windsurfing out of the Olympic Games, the RS-X class has lodged a request in the High Court in London for a judicial review of the vote by members of the International Sailing Federation.

Fighting back on every front, Britain’s sailors are lining themselves up to be in medal contention, not least defending gold medallist Paul Goodison in the singlehanded Laser.

A career-defining effort, with five days to rewrite the history of Olympic sailing, faces Britain's Ben Ainslie after the Danish threat from Jonas Högh Christensen yesterday raised another doubt about what had been seen as Ainslie's unquestioned supremacy.

Britain’s gold medal prospects were working hard in testing conditions on Weymouth Bay as Ben Ainslie slipped to third in the Finn singlehander but Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson climbed from fifth on the first day to first on the second.