However, by the close of play on day three, that lead had been reduced to just two points as Mr Ainslie scored a race six ninth and Mr Railey clinched seventh to see the pair end the day on 16 and 18 points respectively.

A fourth-place for Misses Ayton, Webb and Wilson in race five temporarily saw them relinquish their lead as Dutch trio Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes, Merel Witteveen won the race to edge ahead of the Brits, albeit on the same points.

But the Brits hit back in race six, taking second in race with the Dutch fifth for two-time world champion Ms Ayton and her crew to end the day with a three point lead over Ms Mulder’s crew, 15 to 18.

Monday was the first day of racing for the RS:X and 470 classes and it was women’s windsurfer Bryony Shaw who enjoyed the best first day return.

Ms Shaw, the 2007 test event gold medallist, picked up a fourth and third from her opening two races to sit in third overall while in the men’s event Nick Dempsey is also inside the top 10, in ninth, having scored 11-9 from his first outings.

Athens 470 men silver medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield recovered from a poor start to their Beijing 2008 campaign, finishing 19th in their opening race to take fifth spot in their second outing to end day three in 10th overall on 24 points, with French duo Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset leading on nine points.

In the women’s event, Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark opened with a 13th but enjoyed a better race two sailing to an eighth place finish to be placed ninth overall on 21 points at the close of their opening day.

In the 49er, overnight leaders Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes endured a torrid day on the Yellow Sea, scoring 14-15-15 on day two of their regatta. The Exmouth pair, who had topped the leaderboard at the end of day one having been the only crew to score all three results inside the top five, were able to discard one of their 15th places after five races but still fell to ninth overall on the leaderboard with 41 points.

Keep up to date with the Olympics on the RYA website at rya.org.uk/beijing2008