Brits harbour golden thoughts

Percy's lead in the Finn class was cut, but he still leads

Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy are still well placed to transform Sydney Harbour into Golden Pond for Britain's sailing team.

Both Ainslie in the Laser class and Percy in the Finn held on to their places at the top of the respective leader boards.

Star crew Ian Walker and Mark Covell had a good day at the office to boost their medal hopes - but Shirley Robertson faces an uphill battle in her quest to pin down an Olympic medal.

Current world champion Ainslie holds the upper hand in his duel with Brazilian Robert Scheidt, the man who pipped him for gold in Atlanta four years ago.

Ainslie, from Lymington stretched his lead to 14 points, placing 11th in race seven of the eleven-race series, with Scheidt trailing in 21st.

Abandoned

The scheduled race eight was abandoned as the winds whipped up over the Harbour.

Shirley Robertson (left) discusses the day's events with coach Mark Littlejohn

Percy saw his lead in the Finn class cut to five points with Swedish world champion Fredrik Loof breathing down his neck.

Percy has maintained his place at the top with an impressivley consistent run, not finishing outside the top ten in any of the six races to date and leading since day one.

But Percy placed fifth and eighth in today's two races to put Loof on the scent after he finished seventh and fourth.

Ian Walker and Mark Covell had a superb day to maintain their late surge towards the medal places in the Star class.

The duo moved to within two points of Bermudan pair Lee White and Peter Bromby, who won the second race of the day.

Recalled

Walker and Covell posted second and third places, and their second place was all the more remarkable after they were recalled for jumping the gun.

Brazil's reigning Olympic champion Torben Grael increased his overall advatange at the top of the standings as he battles for gold with Australian pair David Giles and Colin Beashel.

Shirley Robertson found Rushcutter Bay's strong and shifting winds difficult to handle and she dropped off the top spot after a bad day.

Robertson posted her worst scores to date, managing just eighth and ninth .

Argentina's Serena Amato won the second race of the day to leapfrog Robertson by one point, with reigning Olympic champion Kristine Roug of Denmark dropping back to fourth after jumping the start gun in the final race.