Sailing: Poole stars finish fifth in Sail for Gold Regatta (From Bournemouth Echo)

Sailing: Poole stars finish fifth in Sail for Gold Regatta

7:00am Monday 11th June 2012 in Sport By Ian Wadley

POOLE’S match racing stars were forced to settle for fifth place as they missed out on victory at the Olympic dress rehearsal in Weymouth.

Games medal hopefuls Lucy Macgregor, sister Kate Macgregor and Annie Lush lost in the last eight of their class at the weather-disrupted Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta on Saturday.

Bidding to make a mark against their rivals ahead of this summer’s Olympics, the Daily Echo columnists tasted defeat by two races to one against their Australian counterparts.

The trio from Down Under, skippered by Olivia Price, went on to claim the women’s match racing title.

Elsewhere, there was success for the host nation as Britain’s competitors claimed 11 medals after the final day of the sailing showpiece in Dorset.

Among them, Lymington’s Olympic legend Ben Ainslie collected silver while Andrew Simpson, from Sherborne, bagged a bronze.

Ainslie suffered a capsize and finished the medal race 10th overall. This was still enough to earn the multiple Olympic champion a Finn silver medal – but he was unable to catch 2011 World and European king Giles Scott.

“I made a mistake, we’re all human,” said Ainslie. “It wasn’t my best race but Giles sailed fantastically.”

Despite leading going into the final day, Simpson and team-mate Iain Percy finished third in the Star class.

The Team GB duo, Olympic champions in Beijing four years ago, had a collision with their Brazilian rivals which left them with a bronze medal after ending the medal race eighth.

Stephen Park, the Royal Yachting Association’s Olympic manager, said: “It has really confirmed our thinking that we are certainly medal competitive in all 13 of the Olympic and Paralympic classes, and that if you make any mistakes then you will be punished.”