BEN AINSLIE will be gunning for a gold medal at this week's Spa Olympic Classes Regatta in Holland to confirm his standing as the World's top Laser sailor.

At last month's French Olympic Week, Britain's World number one Ainslie and the Soling crew of Andy Beadsworth, Richard Sydenham and Barry Parkin all secured silver medals so the current five-day regatta, the second of three ISAF World Cup Series events will present a chance for him to go one better.

The first day's sailing was plagued by the Ijsslemeer's traditional big windshifts and pres-sure variations across the bay, letting the 1,300-plus competitors know that it wasn't going to be plain sailing from the word go.

"The secret today was not to hit the corners. The wind always came back, you just had to be patient," said Olympic silver medallist Ainslie, after posting a 1,3,1 scoreline for the day.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, in the men's 470 fleet, led home the second race of the regatta from Americans Paul Forester and Bob Merrick, who won last month's Hyeres regatta with a day to spare. Rogers and Glanfield go into the second day in fourth place overall.

On the 49er course, Alistair Richardson and Peter Greenhalgh were once again top British boat in a 64-strong fleet. They are fifth overall after three races - although with a long way still to go.

Ian Walker and Mark Covell made their presence felt in the Star class with a perfect port tack-start in race one. Having managed to cross the entire fleet, they were caught out by the Soling fleet racing just ahead of them, although still finishing fifth.

With a tenth in race two, which Walker described as "a superb recovery" following a difficult midline start, they are sixth overall going into the first night.

"It looks good" said Walker. "The boat's going well and the speed is there."

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