WEYMOUTH-based Charlotte Dobson and team-mate Sophie Ainsworth top the standings in the women’s skiff event after winning the only race for the 49erFX class at the ISAF World Championships in Santander yesterday.

Dobson and Ainsworth bounced back from a protest disqualification on Tuesday in the best possible fashion.

They lead the way with three races gone, with fellow Brits Kate Macgregor and Katrina Best eighth and Frances Peters and Nicola Groves in 15th.

Alison Young’s third place in the only race for the Laser Radial class was enough to put her into the medal race positions, and also confirm Great Britain’s berth in the women’s single-hander at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The Portland-based sailor is out of contention for the medals but can be satisfied with her showing at just her second regatta back after an illness-affected season.

Elsewhere across the classes yesterday, Giles Scott maintained his dominant form, winning all three Finn races to retain the yellow jersey heading into the finals series.

“We’ve managed to finish the qualification and we’re into gold and silver fleets so the racing will get a lot tighter now,” said the 2011 world champion, who is also based on Portland.

“I managed to come away with three firsts which I’m very happy with.

“It was a pretty frustrating day for the fleet in general, the race committee had some issues holding anchor so we were delayed by a couple of hours.

“The result of that was we had a pretty dodgy race for the final one.

“But for me personally it was all good and I managed to get a good result in that last one as well.”

Top windsurfers Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw didn’t enjoy their three races in the windier conditions.

Weymouth’s defending champion Dempsey cited “missed opportunities” as he dropped to eighth overall with one more fleet racing day left before tomorrow’s medal races.

Shaw is poised in fifth and Izzy Hamilton lies ninth in the women’s RS:X division.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are in third with just one race possible for the 470 Women’s fleet on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Luke Patience and Elliot Willis endured another fruitless day on the 470 Men’s race track, with no racing possible in their fleet in the dying breeze.

With just three races finished, they still need one more race to complete their qualification series.

Nick Thompson will head into today’s double points Laser medal race effectively tied with the series leader, Australian Tom Burton, as the fight for the World Championship podium reaches its climax in Spain.

Today sees the final 10-boat medal races for both the Laser and Laser Radial events, with Thompson aiming for a golden finish to his campaign.