Dobson remains confident despite sluggish opening

CHARLOTTE Dobson conceded that her opening two races at the ISAF World Championships didn’t go to plan – but says she’s a world away from pushing the panic button in Australia

The 25-year-old knows that results in Fremantle are all important with a host of Brits bidding to earn selection for the sole Laser Radial spot at next year’s Olympics.

And her first two outings would have done little to catch selectors’ eyes as she finished race one in 34th before a drastic improvement saw her place 14th in race two.

With eight more races to go before the all-important medal showdown, Dobson says there is plenty of time to recover. “It didn’t quite go as it was supposed to go. In the first race there was a building sea breeze and in the second it filled in a bit more and picked up,” said Dobson. “But there were a lot of elements that were good and hopefully I can sort it out.”

Meanwhile, fellow Scot Luke Patience and his partner in the 470, ,Stuart Bithell, got off to a winning start, finishing their opening race in fifth before improving to first in race two.

In the Finn, Mark Andrews started with finishes of ninth and eighth but gold could be triple Olympic champion Ben Ainslie’s to lose already after he picked up two wins.

lInvestment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of the British sailing team. For more information go to www. skandiateamgbr.com