Sailing: Golding leads British in the race for honours

A number of defining moments for Britain's top sailors this week started yesterday in Calais as Mike Golding, who is joined by a crew of four, began a 1,000-mile race around the Fastnet Rock against seven others in his new Open 60, Ecover.

In La Rochelle today the double Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie will be bidding to add the European title to the world championship he won in Brazil earlier this year. And further down the Atlantic coast, over the Spanish border in Santander, the Sydney gold medallist Shirley Robertson, with crew Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton, go into the Yngling world championship having won their class just over a week ago at the French Olympic Regatta, in Hyeres.

Also in Hyeres, Paul Goodison, the last to be selected for Britain's Olympic squad received a warning from the runaway winner in the Laser class, Robert Scheidt of Brazil, that he is ready to claim his seventh world championship,near Bodrun, in Turkey, on Thursday.

The silver medal in the women's 470 class went to the rapidly improving Christina Bassadone and Katherine Hopson, who move their campaign to Croatia for a world championship, also kicking off today, which also sees male counterparts, Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield hoping to move up from the bronze they won in the south of France.