There have been some outstanding performances today - here are a round up of the top quotes on day 3

Ben Rhodes (GBR) 49er
Day 3: 4th overall
Yeah absolutely yesterday was a very long frustrating day, we got sent out late and i guess the race officer had a sightly different wind speed than we did where we were.  it was pretty full on when we left the beach and I thought it was pretty un raceable but the decision was correctly made by the time we reach the edge of the harbour so we had a little sail, but i think the most important thing yesterday was not breaking anything.

Today was great the sun is back out we've had a cracking traditional Weymouth breeze so its pretty much what we are used to from all the sailing we've done here its pretty much was we get here 75% of the time in the summer down here.  SO good breeze, quite a lot of tide and quite a lot of seaweed. So I don't know if the Chinese have shipped that back in for us, but it was quite Qingdao -esque with the amount of seaweed that was floating around but we managed to a fairly good job of avoiding it until the last race. We caught a bit in the last race which cost us challenging for a race win in that one.

Our target for every regatta we do is to sail as well as we can, we've had a hard year we've not been very fast we've done a lot of work on that over the last two months and that's a huge amount of credit to our coach Ian Barker and he has definitely got us on the pace now.  Hopefully if we sail well over the next few days the results will take care of themselves. LIke most thing, but its nice to win isn't it!

Stevie Morrison (GBR) 49er
Day 3: 4th overall
It wasn't very easy to make big gains, it was tough on the start and it was generally one sides and pretty much down to boat speed. There weren't very many opportunities to overtake but we weren't ever in the situation where we desperate to overtake we got to the first mark in quite a good position, so we aimed to maintain position and challenge when we got the opportunities but it was a little about staying safe when you got there.

Nathan Outteridge (AUS) 49er
Day 3: 3rd overall
Yeah today was nice, we missed out on racing yesterday but its good to get out there today and do some racing we got like a 5, 3, 5, 1 - so pretty consistent and we're pretty happy with that. In terms of what this event means to us, we're still trying to work out what Weymouth's all about really, obviously we'd like to win this event.  We're in the hunt at the moment it just depends on what the other guys in the other group go in qualifying. Once that's over the real racing will start, I think we will end up in the top 5 going into the final's so that's a good start.  The competition is good if you make a mistake it definitely hurts, today we made a few mistakes and definitely did well to get back  into the top five again.  I think when it goes to gold fleet your mistakes are going to get punished a lot more. 

Blair Tuke (NZL) 49er
Day 3: 2nd Overall
We had a good first race but we let things slide a little in the second race. We like getting good results and we're trying hard to keep in the top group. We had a week down here training just after Spa, its really nice down here in Weymouth the sailing is really good, its a little bit of a sail out to the course compared to what we're used to but the conditions are really nice. We're staying in Weymouth town and its seems like a nice place so its been really fun. We're just taking this as a normal regatta really, we're still just trying to learn as we are still just 2 years out from the Olympics its all learning at this stage, obviously the competition is as intense as ever.  In terms of a podium position here, if it happens it happens but if we get a finish in the top ten we'd be pretty happy about that.

Malcolm Page (AUS) 470 Men
Day 3: 2nd overall
We're having a good regatta, we got two seconds today and things are going well.  Obviously we've won the World Cup and the World Championships so its been a great year and we never expected to be able to head into this event with the World Cup title wrapped up so its a great position to be in.

Weymouth is a great venue you have everything you could possible ask for in terms of facilities for this kind of event, the conditions are fantastic, compared to somewhere such as Beijing. It's great to have a real venue to sail in, we get waves, current, wind and on occasion no wind but generally its very variable which is great although if I had one complaint its the temperature of the water its a bit cold compared what i'm used to in Australia!

Ben Ainslie (GBR) FInn Class
Day 3: Second overall
I'm pleased with how things went for me today but it was really tough out there for the Finn’s, especially when they brought in the free pumping rule. Physically, it was one of, if not the hardest days racing I have ever raced. But I’m getting used to the rule and I had a really good day. Coming back into the fleet it’s been difficult but I’m learning and it’s just a case of getting back out there, seeing where everyone else has got to and most importantly learning about the conditions.
 
The rust is starting to come off, I’m definitely improving as the racing has gone on but my body is only just holding up to be honest, it’s seriously hard work out there, in fact its hard to imagine how hard things are!

I know there’s a long way to go in this event yet and because I haven’t raced for two years and have done so little training my body is definitely feeling it and I hope it holds out.

I’m up at the top end of the fleet (2nd) and considering everything that’s very pleasing for me at this point.
 

11/8/2010 20:10