Aquece Rio International Regatta 2014: Giles Scott takes gold for Britain

A silver for the 2012 silver medallists Hannah Mills (right) and Saskia Clark contributed to a haul of eight medals for the British Olympic squad at the test event in Rio (OCEAN IMAGES)

Giles Scott’s domination of the Olympic Finn class singlehander delivered Britain’s only gold medal for the British sailing team, but three silver and four bronze medals were added to the overall British tally at the Aquece Rio International Regatta on the Guanabara Bay 2016 Olympic sailing venue in Brazil.

Olympic manager Stephen Park described the team’s performance as: “very pleasing. It’s been a fantastic end to the first Rio test event,” he added.

“Winning eight medals in seven events of the 10 that we compete in has been very pleasing. It’s certainly a work in progress and of course we’d like to win more gold medals than we’ve won this week.

“But we were in there competing for gold medals certainly in four of the events. To be racing out for the podium in every single one of the 10 is a fantastic place to be,” he concluded.

In Cowes, the Royal Ocean Racing Club took the decision to postpone the start of the Sevenstars Round Britain and Ireland Race as a precaution against the stormy weather associated with the tail end of Hurricane Bertha.

The 28 boats, including five of the new Volvo 65 round the world race boats, are on standby to start 21 hours later at 09.00 on Monday morning and will continue to tackle the 1,802-mile, non-stop course in its changed anti-clockwise direction.

Sidney Gavignet, French skipper of the MOD70 Musandam-Oman Sail, fully supported the decision. “With a 50/50 crew onboard of mixed ability, from highly experienced offshore professionals to less experienced Omani crewmates, safety is paramount and the extreme speed of the trimaran would have put the team in 35-45 knots for 30 hours from the start.”

Brian Thompson, skipper of IMOCA 60 Artemis Team-Endeavour, agreed: 'A very, very wise decision. Our weather files are showing 45 knots of wind at an angle of 100 degrees in an area of the North Sea, past Lowestoft. It would be dangerous to go through there at that time,” he said.

British Sailing Team at the 2014 Aquece Rio International Regatta:

Gold

Giles Scott (Finn)

Silver

Alison Young (Laser Radial)

Luke Patience-Elliot Willis (470 Men)

Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark (470 Women)

Bronze

Ed Wright (Finn)

Pippa Wilson-John Gimson (Nacra 17)

Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign (49er)

Nick Thompson (Laser)