Portland-based Ellie Aldridge made history by winning the first ever women's Olympic kite foil race yesterday (august 4).

Despite a long wait for the wind to pick up in Marseille, Aldridge got her Olympic campaign underway in style on the south coast of France.

The kite foil category is making its debut at this year's Games and the Dorset-born sailor goes into today's races topping the leaderboard.

After winning the first race, Aldridge backed it up with two second places and a third place finish leaving her tied on points in first place.

READ: Pride despite blow for Dorset windsurfer Emma Wilson

She said: “It dawned on me how cool it is to have kite foiling in the Games when we were just about to go out. You've got all the crowds behind us just cheering everyone on as you go out on the water. It's a pretty unique and special feeling.” 

“[I’m just looking for] Consistency in my racing. We aim to do four races a day for four days, so it's a long event. You’ve got to keep up the scores all the way across to do well at the end.

In the men's category, Portland resident Connor Bainbridge also had a strong start and sits fifth overall after his first four races.

Bainbridge said: “We're going to keep seeing super tight racing and any tiny little mistake is going to drop you back to the back."

In the Men's Dingy (ICLA 7), Micky Beckett had a tough start after being disqualified in the first race of the day for being over the start line early.

Beckett hit back though claiming 8th spot in his next race and goes into today's penultimate day's racing in overall fourth.

READ: Dorset windsurfer Emma Wilson wins bronze

Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube also had a tricky day in the Mixed Dinghy (470) event on Sunday, finishing in 12th before picking up a false start disqualification in their second race of the day.

The pair have dropped to 11th with four more races still to determine the top ten for Wednesday’s Medal Race.

Complex conditions out in the bay of Marseille saw Team GB’s Hannah Snellgrove post a 30th and a 20th, which drops her to tenth in the Women’s Dinghy (ILCA 6) event.

The points above her are tight, and she’s currently the only sailor in the fleet to have won two races.

John Gimson promised that the second half of the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17) competition would 'sort the wheat from the chaff'.

He and Anna Burnet He and Anna Burnet sit sixth overall after six races, just four points off bronze medal position. 

The sailing competition resumes in Marseille from 11am today (August 5)