Paul Brotherton and Mark Asquith squeezed 49er rivals Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes into third place during the first weekend of the RYA 49er Gold Series at Hayling Island Sailing Club.

Morrison and Rhodes won the Red Bull Tide Ride as more than 200 competitors from 11 countries contested the tight three-day competition in fickle breezes.

RYA Development Squad sailor Stevie Morrison commented: "The racing has been really close and the level of competition really high. It is great to not only race against the top British guys but also the leading international sailors too. We have sailed better than normal this weekend and hope we can keep it up for the concluding part of the Gold Series next weekend."

Although Morrison/Rhodes won the Red Bull Tide Ride, the overall result, carrying through to the final weekend of the Gold Series, looks slightly different.

Results are decided from the scores on the Friday racing (allowing one discard) and the final score from the Tide Ride, which will be a non-discardable result.

Marcin Oajkowski/Krzysztof Kierkowski of Poland were in pole position going into the final weekend, although Brotherton and Asquith matched them with two first places on Friday. Tide Ride winners Morrison/Rhodes were third overall.

The 49ers move on to Weymouth for the second half of the RYA 49er Gold Series from today through to Sunday at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy.