THE Miami World Cup regatta has reached its halfway stage with Britain’s sailors poised in seven podium positions after three days of racing.

Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey looks firmly in control in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet, counting all race wins so far, while Portland’s Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell retain the yellow leaders’ jerseys heading into the final two days of racing for the SKUD Paralympic class.

Athens bronze medallist Dempsey made amends for jumping the gun in the second of his two races on Tuesday by winning both races on Wednesday.

He now discards his penalty and is counting the best possible scoreline of five points from the six races held to extend his lead over Skandia Team GBR team-mate and training partner Elliot Carney, who is in second overall.

Dempsey said: “Elliot and I had a good couple of races – kind of like training races for the two of us in a way – and it was great to get the conditions we did.

“It was the first time we’ve got planing since we got here, so it gave the body a bit of a rest from the pumping, and it was nice to be going well in those conditions.”

Dempsey is treating this Rolex Miami OCR, held on the waters of Biscayne Bay, as a “training regatta”, and although many of his typically strong international rivals have opted not to race at this event, the British sailor is by no means resting on his laurels.

The 31-year-old added: “The RS:X fleet is pretty small here, but although some of the big names are missing there are still some good guys in there, and you have to work just as hard to get the results.

“It’s never as easy as the scoreline might look, so it’s definitely been worthwhile coming here and I’ll be pushing hard for the rest of the week.”

Rickham and Birrell, the four-time world champions, continued their bid for a first Miami title with two and three from their two races, edging them into a two-point lead after their nearest rivals, Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, could only manage two fourth places.

Elsewhere in the Paralympic classes, Portland’s John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas improved one place to second overall in the Sonar class, while Megan Pascoe, also from the island, is poised in fourth in the 2.4mR class.

Weymouth’s Paul Goodison is just one point off the lead in the Laser class following another steady day of one and three from his two races, while Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, also from the town, are in second overall, just one point adrift of the leader.

Poole’s Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor will look to come through their closely-fought women’s match racing round-robin group in their remaining three matches in order to book their berth in the quarter-finals.

They opened their day with a win over the Australian team, helmed by Olivia Price, but conceded their second match to France’s Julie Bossard after a “stupid mistake” at the start.

Weymouth’s Charlotte Dobson is fifth and Alison Young seventh in the Laser Radial event, while Ben Saxton and Richard Mason are eighth and Portland’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell are 14th in the 470 men’s event.

* The Rolex Miami OCR – the second leg of the 2011/12 ISAF Sailing World Cup series – runs until tomorrow.

* For the latest news and information visit skandiateamgbr.com or follow the action on Twitter @SkandiaTeamGBR