Great Britain's world silver medallists Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond took an early lead in their fleet at the ISAF World Cup in Miami.
The pair, who compete in the new Olympic Nacra 17 multihull class, bettered their rivals over the opening three races while British team-mate and windsurfer Bryony Shaw recorded a first and second to also lead her fleet.
“We’ve been training with the whole Nacra squad out in Portugal with our coach Maurice and we’ve been working on a few things tactically as well as just getting quick,” said Saxton.
“We seem to be doing quite well. It will be interesting for the second half of the week when it gets windier to see if we’re on the pace there too, but we’re confident.”
However, the British pair expect to face competition from team-mates Lucy Macgregor and Andrew Walsh. The new-look combination are making their debut in Miami and started with two top ten finishes.
Macgregor competed at the London 2012 in the women's match racing crew while Walsh is returning to Olympic class racing after taking part in last year's Extreme 40 catamaran series.
“I think the Nacras are great boats,” he said.
“I think they’ve got a few teething problems that I think the builders are probably trying to get sorted at the moment, but for a spectacular boat to watch at the Olympics I think it’s going to be really exciting.
“When the breeze is up they’re jumping out of the water and are a real handful for the teams to sail which will be really entertaining I think. Even in the light winds we’re fast and colourful boats so it should be a really exciting Olympic class.”
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