Light wind test for Kingussie sailor as Paris 2024 regatta gets underway
Kingussie 49er sailor Fynn Sterritt and teammate James Peters did not have the Olympics debut day that they would have dreamt about.
But the pair are taking the positives after the first day of racing and there is still plenty of sailing to go.
Competition began at the Paris 2024 Olympic sailing events today at Marseille.
Light winds made for a tricky first day with only two of the four scheduled classes seeing any action.
It was a difficult start in the 49ers (Men’s Skiff) for the GB team of Sterritt and Peters finishing 18th in the opening race.
But they were in a much improved 11th in race two having had to take a penalty turn showed their ability to come back from adversity.
A 13th in race three sees them start day two in 14th overall.
Sterritt (35) said: “The first two races were really quite light for us on our course and then we shifted slightly offshore and got a bit more breeze for the third.
“It was a tricky first day, a tough day for everyone, but it's day one and plenty more to play for.”
James Peters (31) from Hayling Island, Hampshire, said: “It could have been better but it's the first day so you've just got to ease your way into it.
“It didn't feel like we had that much luck out there, but we kept battling and a couple could have been real bad that sort of ended up being counters.
“A tough day for us, but [we’ve] just got to keep going at this point.”
“Today is day one and what Fynn and I were doing today was battling and whilst it doesn't look amazing on paper, we were rescuing points here and there that will make a difference at the end of the week.
“We're in good shape and we've got to just crack on and keep doing what we're doing.”
The racing continues tomorrow with winds forecast to pick up as the week progresses to the medals racing on Thursday when the top 10 teams will qualify and race for the podium places.
Head to the British Sailing Team’s Paris 2024 hub for all the info on how to follow Team GB’s sailors at Paris 2024 including the competition schedule, live tracking, how to watch and more.
For real-time updates check out the British Sailing Team’s social media channels.
