SEVEN Olympic and Paralympic classes took to Portland Harbour to take part in the Royal Yachting Association’s Olympic Classes Spring Series event.

Among the many sailors competing was Weymouth’s very own Paralympian and world champion, Megan Pascoe and up-and-coming teenage windsurfer, Lily Young.

It was the first event of a two-part series held at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) which ran alongside an International Optimist event.

Despite being scheduled to be a two-day event, there was no wind on the first day, causing racing to be abandoned.

Fortunately, the second day brought wind speeds between nine and 14 knots from the east and pleasant sunny skies.

Pascoe, competing in the 2.4m fleet was joined by seven other sailors.

Over the course of the day, they completed five races.

She maintained her winning streak gaining five race wins, however the racing was close.

Pascoe said: “It was fun to be racing back in Portland Harbour, although it was very cold.

“Eight 2.4s took to the water for the five races.

“I managed to win every one but my team-mate and training partner, Carol Dugdale from the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club, was a very close second in every race.

“We’ve both been training hard together over the last couple of months so it was good to see our work paying off.

“The battle for third was close between three sailors but it was Morgan Bugler from Wales who managed to just get the final podium place.”

Pascoe and Dugdale will continue their training regime at the WPNSA next week prior to the final Spring Series event in early April.

The pair will then head to France for the Hyeres World Cup.

Meanwhile, in the RS:X 8.5 fleet, Young joined almost 20 windsurfers, the largest class of the event.

The windsurfers shared the course area with the 49er fleets.

Young found the racing challenging and said: “We did five races. The wind was quite gusty and the conditions resulted in there having to be some tough pumping in all the races.

“I was pleased with how the racing went, especially as it was my least favourite conditions.

“I was also happy to see improvements from the things that I have been working on over the winter.

“It was a nice event to start the year off and a good warm-up before the Youth National Championships in Pwllheli in April.”