Ed Wright clinches 'lucky' Finn class gold in Majorca

Wright, 32, came through a 'tricky regatta' to win

Britain's Ed Wright said a "lucky" manoeuvre handed him Finn class gold for the second successive World Cup leg in Palma, Majorca, on Friday.

Wright rounded Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic to win by a single point.

"Ivan was in front and dominated the left-hand side. I was quite lucky to get round him on the right, that pretty much gave me the event," said Wright.

Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh took 49er class silver with GB colleagues Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes third.

Bryony Shaw picked up bronze in the women's RS:X windsurfing class, while Helena Lucas raced to silver in the 2.4mR Paralympic class.

Two in a row is really great and hopefully I'll be able to carry it on at the next events

Ed Wright

Wright, 32, pushed his Croatian rival back into silver medal position by finishing fourth as the Finn fleet, first on to the water on Friday, completed their medal race.

"I was pretty lucky to get the Majorca World Cup win, but two in a row is really great and hopefully I'll be able to carry it on at the next events in the year," said Wright, whose British team-mates Andrew Miles and Giles Scott finished seventh and eighth respectively.

"The whole week has been pretty up and down - it's been a tricky regatta."

France's Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis eased to the 49er title, leaving Draper and Greenhalgh to battle Beijing Olympic duo Morrison and Rhodes for silver and bronze.

Draper and Greenhalgh found the favoured side of the course from the start and held on for their first podium finish since forming a team.

"We've changed a lot of the way we go about doing things, and basically are just trying to get better as a team," said Draper.

A number of sailors have had a tough time of it but came through to do well, so that's encouraging

Stephen Park
British sailing's Olympic manager

"We're a young team together, so we're really pleased that things are moving forwards."

Lucas, who took silver in the 2.4mR a day earlier, said: "After a tricky couple of races it turned round into a strong sea breeze which is my condition - I've got really good speed in that - and won the last race which got me the silver medal, so I'm pretty chuffed with that one."

However, not all Britons prospered in the conditions, as top GB prospects Nick Thompson (in the Laser) and Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Ally Martin (women's match racing) missed the podium.

"It's been a tricky week, and a number of sailors have had a tough time of it but came through to do well, so that's encouraging," said Stephen Park, who is managing Britain's bid for sailing success at the London Olympics.

"It's great that Ed Wright managed to gain gold in the Finn, as he was not doing so well halfway through the regatta.

"In fact Ed, Chris Draper and Nick Thompson have all had what they would consider to be unfortunate outings, but in terms of the results it worked out reasonably well."