British 49ers looking good

Barker and Hiscocks turn on the style for Britain

BBC's Richard Simmonds reports from Sydney after a good day for Britain as the individual sailors march up the leader board and the 49er team particularly impress.

Race wins for Ben Ainslie in the Laser, Shirley Robertson in the Europe and Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield in the 470 made Thursday the best day yet for Britain on the waters inside and outside Sydney Harbour.

Whilst these athletes are the focus of the press attention at Rushcutters Bay we may look back on the British 49er team's performances on Thursday as equally important.

Great Britain's Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks left the dock lying eighth in the 49er class and came back five hours later in third, just one point off the lead.

Two seconds and a fourth did the trick. They have now completed seven of their fourteen race schedule.

Supercharge

The 49er bears little resemblance to any of the other Olympic classes. It's extreme, very light and fast with a massive gennacker to supercharge its performance downwind.

It is also extremely difficult to sail. Keeping it upright, even in light winds requires skills that few weekend sailors possess and many top sailors have struggled to aquire.

There's just a handful of sailors in each country who have really got to grips with making this machine sing.

Indifferent start for the Australian pair

The 49er was designed in Australia, a spin off from the 18 foot skiff - a three person monster of a machine that is as much a part of Sydney Harbour as the Opera House.

The 49er was, in the early days, dominated by Australian sailors. Whilst they stepped on and were fine-tuning their technique the rest of the world were in deep water, quite literally.

This week has seen the Australian three-times 49er World Championship winning combination of Chris Nicholson and Daniel Philips swimming in a very shaky start to their series.

They have got into gear now and are lying fifth overall. Barker is surprised that the home team are not performing better at this stage but puts it down to the weight of expectation on their shoulders.

Local press

In the local press out here a gold for Australia in the 49er has been talked up.

It's no surprise there has been much interest in this fleet - these boats with their colourful gennackers race around short upwind downwind courses close to the shore.

Races are short, around 40 minutes, and three are held back to back each day.

So there is around 280 minutes of racing to go in this fleet. USA, Germany and Great Britain are currently in the podium places.

Ian Barker and Simon Hiscocks need to keep a cool head. It's something they are good at.

In the trials to select which British 49er team would go to the Games it could not have been closer.

Barker went into the last day neck and neck with Paul Brotherton who finished 6th in the 470 in the Barcelona Olympics and Mo Grey. Barker and Hiscocks won that and proved than they do not melt in the heat of the hottest competition.

Watch this fleet closely between now and the medal ceremony.