A DRAMATIC kit breakage at sea could not stop Portland’s Sonar team claiming a double win on home waters on the third day of a major international regatta.

Skandia Team GBR’s John Robertson and crew Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas showed the quality of their long-standing team when they pulled together to overcome the setback and secured two wins and a place at the top of the leaderboard at the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta yesterday.

The pole holding the jib foresail out broke at the start of the second race and Thomas was forced to hang over the side of the boat to hold the foresail.

Stodel held on to Thomas’s legs to stop him falling out, while Robertson drove the boat to achieve victory ahead of Dutch team Udo Hessels, Marcel Van Veen and Mischa Rossen, second overall, and French sailors Bruno Jourdren, Eric Flageul and Nicholas Vimont Vicary who are third on the leaderboard after five races.

Stodel, aged 25, of Chiswell, said: “It was pretty impressive, Steve was hiked out, I was hanging on to him for grim death but it got us a race win; we were very proud of him.

“The jib pole snapped so it meant we had to sail the whole race without it.

“But we claimed two firsts so it was a really good day.”

Robertson, 39, of Castletown, said: “The venue’s fantastic, we’ve had clear blue skies, 20 knots of wind, what’s not to love?

“It was a fantastic team effort on the second race, we were shouting ‘Come on Steve, just five more minutes.’ “The Dutch are our closest competitors at the moment but it’s all very close in the fleet, there’s still everything to play for.”

Skandia Team GBR windsurfer Nick Dempsey, of Wyke Regis, also celebrated two race wins after a dominant performance in the men’s RS:X fleet, which put him at the top of the fleet ahead of Dutch windsurfer Dorian Van Rijsselberge and New Zealand’s Jon-Paul Tobin.

Athens bronze medallist Dempsey, aged 30, said: “It’s been absolutely beautiful, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing.

“We had two cracking races and I got two first places so I’m very, very happy with that.

“It was much better after Tuesday which was hugely frustrating and disappointing.

“I made some massive mistakes so it was really nice just to go out there and execute what I was hoping I could do.”

Racing at the regatta ends tomorrow for the Paralympic classes and this Saturday for the Olympic classes, view the latest results visit www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk

* laura.kitching@dorsetecho.co.uk