BRITISH Sailing Team Manager Stephen Park described the Rio Olympic Test Event so far as a ‘week of learning’ as the regatta hit the halfway stage amid a second day of weather disruptions yesterday.

Light wind conditions once again dogged the 2016 sailing venue, with just a handful of races possible across five of the eight classes originally scheduled to compete on the fourth day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta.

Event organisers are now playing catch up with the racing schedule in the majority of the 10 Olympic classes, with all 10 sections now scheduled to race today across the six course areas, both inside and outside of Guanabara Bay.

“There’s been a lot of learning going on from a lot of sailors and it’s been a very challenging week for sailors from all nations in all classes so far,” explained Park.

“For most people there’s been a real battle with the wind. It’s a sea breeze that we’ve had so far this regatta, and that means it’s been quite different inside and outside of the harbour, and also different on the different courses. “Results for most fleets for most sailors have certainly been up and down, and that’s no different for our team as it is for other top sailors from around the world.”

There was insufficient wind to race on any of the outside courses once again yesterday, but all three courses inside the bay managed to host racing in the mid to late afternoon sea breeze.

The 49erFX class managed their two planned races, with Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth posting a 10, 14 to sit in overall 10th place.

Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet also managed two races, which yielded 14,9 for the double Olympic medallist, who is poised 11th overall.

“Tactically I’m making much better decisions that I was at the beginning of the week, and I don’t think I’m a million miles off,” Dempsey explained.

“I’m just not quite there with the pace so that makes it quite difficult. But it’s alright, I love racing and I’m learning a heap so it’s all relatively positive.”

Just one race was possible for the women’s RS:X fleet, with Bryony Shaw picking up a seventh to see her into ninth place overall.

The Finn sailors saw none of their three planned races, in spite of sailing out to the Sugarloaf course, while the 470 Men’s and Women’s fleets, due to race outside the bay, never left the shore due to insufficient breeze.