5 September 2009
Be Number 1’s Nick Dempsey is leading the men’s standings, alongside Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberge, after the second day of competition at the RS:X World Windsurfing Championships at Weymouth.

Dempsey, who bagged a second and a first in his two races yesterday, finished fourth and third in his brace of outings today to demonstrate the sort of consistency that could yet bring him a coveted world title in home waters. Weymouth is, of course, also the venue that will host the sailing events at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The men’s overnight leader, Przemyslaw Miarczynski of Poland, is in third place, tied on 12 points with Brazil’s Ricardo Santos and Casper Bouman.

Bryony Shaw, meanwhile, harvested two second-place finishes in the women’s regatta to catapult her from 22nd position to seventh overall, and thereby help her put a disappointing opening day firmly behind her.

“I think I’ve woken up,” Shaw, the Be Number 1 athlete and Olympic bronze medallist, said. “I think yesterday I was a little bit asleep, but today I’m back in the game. Yesterday was tough – I hadn’t really sailed in those sorts of conditions for a long time, and I wasn’t really set up for it.

“I had trouble trying to clear my head yesterday evening, but I’m trying to treat each day as a new one, sail smart and sail how I know I can. And that worked for me today.”

Spain’s Marina Alabau maintained her perfect scorecard with two more first-place finishes to extend her lead to nine points over France’s Eugenie Richard. Blanca Manchon lies in third spot to make it two places in the top three for Spanish competitors.