STUNNING sailing conditions of big breezes and sunshine made for spectacular start to the Olympic competition hosted on borough waters.

A cheering crowd of up to 4,600 people filled Nothe’s ticketed spectator site and their patriotic clothing made a vision of red, white and blue as they sat on rugs across the grassy peninsula.

The London 2012 Games is making history this fortnight with the first ever ticketed event for the sport of sailing.

While reports emerged from across the country of empty stadiums at Olympic competitions such as equestrian dressage, Weymouth boasted large crowds and thousands more flocked to the free public Live Site on Weymouth Beach.

Britain’s contenders did not disappoint.

Triple Olympic gold and silver medallist Ben Ainslie got off to a strong start in the Finn heavyweight class, achieving two second place results, first on the Nothe course and then on the Weymouth Bay West course.

The race wins were both claimed by Danish sailor Jonas Hogh-Christensen, who has vowed to do all he can to prevent Ainslie’s place in the history books for a fourth victory for the Brit would beat a record by Danish sailor Paul Elvstrom as the world’s most successful Olympic sailor, which has so far stood for 52 years.

Dorset’s Match Race Girls, Lucy Macgregor, her sister Kate Macgregor and crewmate Annie Lush also achieved a solid first day of results in their fortnight-long regatta.

Team ‘Mac-Lush’ performed to the crowds on the Nothe course, beating the Danish competitors to win the first of their Round Robin one-on-one events in the Elliott 6m boat class, before losing to the Spanish team in their second race of the day.

Lush, 32, of Poole described the support from the home crowd as ‘awesome’ with ‘a lot of noise and a lot of people rooting for us’ on the Nothe.

She said: “After the first race it was nice to be leading to enjoy the crowd and breathe a bit of a sigh of relief.

“It’s always nerve racking racing on the first day but we went there and it was awesome.

“All our competitors noticed that everyone was cheering for us and not them, it’s cool when you hear it and as you’re coming into the windward mark you think ‘I’d better get this right, everyone’s watching.”

Meanwhile exciting racing in the men’s Star keelboat class, saw Britain’s defending Olympic champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson neck and neck across the finishing line with their main rival Brazilian Robert Scheidt and crew Bruno Prada.

Their near win was a comeback for the pair after finishing 11 in race one on the Weymouth Bay West course, where they were caught out by the shifty wind conditions.

Helm Percy was disappointed when Scheidt’s team was awarded the win by race officials.

He said: “I did feel we’d won it, I’m normally quite negative so it is a surprise.

“But it’s not really a big deal, myself and Bart will keep fighting.”

Ainslie ‘confident’ after his first day

OLYMPIAN Ben Ainslie was feeling confident after a ‘fantastic start’ to the biggest event of his career.

The Finn heavyweight dinghy World Champion and defending Olympic champion, right, said: “It was a fantastic start to the event, such a nice day with strong winds.

“It was really interesting racing on the Nothe course, it’s a tough course for the sailors being so close to the shore.

“It’s difficult with the wind being so unstable but it was difficult for everybody.

“It was really amazing feeling to hear that crowd cheer you on.

“It’s a good start but there’s a long way to go, got to keep trying to plug away.

“Jonas sailed really well today, obviously he’s one of the ones to watch.

“On the first race the wind was so shifty, even on the second race the wind was very, very shifty.

“Speed today wasn’t really the factor, it was more about tactics.”

The triple gold and silver Olympic medallist said he was feeling ‘tired’ after a day of big breezes.

He said: “It was hard work out there, going downwind it was literally about who wants to pump the hardest if you want to do well, it’s going to hurt.”

Ainslie, 35, of Lymington was beaten in both races by Jonas Hogh-Christensen, of Denmark, who picked up two wins – first at the Nothe course, then out by Ringstead on the Weymouth Bay West course.

Ainslie added: “Two bullets is bloody good, going into Olympic Games, but I’m not necessarily surprised.

“Jonas is a fantastic sailor, he’s done well in the past.

“But there are a lot of great guys out there.

“Compared with the last Olympics it was nice to get two solid starts, there’s been a huge build up to this event, huge expectations.”