Dobson boosts Olympic hopes in Spain

SAILING: Scottish Laser Radial helm Charlotte Dobson boosted her Olympic selection prospects when she sailed to sixth place overall at the third event of the ISAF Sailing World Cup, the Princess Sofia Trophy Olympic classes regatta which finished in Palma, Mallorca, on Saturday.

Dobson finished strongly in the race series with five top-ten finishes followed by a fifth in the ten-boat medal race which was contested in moderate sea breeze conditions.

The Helensburgh helm finished four places and 19 points ahead of her rival for the Laser Radial British berth for the Olympics, Alison Young, but inconclusive results to date mean the selection process will certainly continue to the French Olympic Week in Hyeres at the end of this month.

In the Men’s 470 class, Scot Luke Patience, crewed by Stuart Bithell finished their regatta with a string of decent results but their slow start cost them heavily and Britain’s 2012 selection ended up with a disappointing 19th overall.

Rhu helm Patience said: “This is the end of a difficult week. We sailed fantastically on the final days but we really only got back into the zone when we got into the Finals series. In the early qualifying rounds we were not aggressive enough, particularly on the start lines.”