WEYMOUTH sailor Sarah Ayton and crew Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson clinched Great Britain's first gold at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, Portugal, winning the Yngling world title and pulling one step closer to Olympic qualification for Beijing 2008.

Ayton's former skipper, double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson with her crew Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor, claimed bronze in the Yngling class.

The new 'three blondes in a boat' of Ayton, Webb and Wilson went into the final medal race on Wednesday with a slender one-point lead over Robertson's second-placed crew. After a clear start they were the second boat to reach the first windward mark, with Robertson's team in sixth.

Already on the back foot after a poor start, Robertson, Lush and Macgregor then had to take penalty turns for infringing a German boat which set them back further.

But there was a heart-in-mouth moment for Ayton and Webb when, heading into the windward mark for the second time, Wilson missed the toe straps and fell into the water - their boat came painfully close to touching the buoy as they tried to haul Wilson back on board.

The trio crew recovered to cross the line sixth in the medal race, which was enough for them to capture the world title by just one point. The American crew of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Debbie Capozzi gained silver, with Robertson, Lush and Macgregor in third after finishing ninth in the medal race.

Ayton said: "It's just awesome. We've been working so hard for this ever since I became a helm and especially since Pippa joined our team at the end of the last year. Preparing for the event, we knew it would be a windy venue, which are the conditions that Shirley is strong in, so we knew there was the chance that it could have come down to who beat who in the medal race.

"Our goal was to win the start, we did that and managed to hold on."

Robertson said: "This was only the third medal race I have competed in since the new format was introduced two years ago. I felt we sailed a really good regatta this week, but our execution of the medal race wasn't good enough.

"But we've come such a long way in such a short space of time. Who would have thought we would be battling it out for the gold medal here against teams who have been together for the last three years?"

There have been enduring mixed fortunes amidst the testing conditions for British sailing's Olympic hopefuls at the event which finishes today.

The borough's 49er team and defending world champions Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks have improved their standing from 10th to fifth heading into the final medal race today, although they are out of contention.

Their biggest competitors in the bid for Olympic selection - European Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes - are heading for gold as they stay top of the leaderboard heading into today's medal race.

In the RS:X men's windsurfing fleet, Nick Dempsey secured Great Britain's fourth medal at the World Sailing Championships, clinching bronze in a gripping final medal race yesterday while Bryony Shaw finished in 12th place.

For a full list of British entries visit http://www.skandiateamgbr.com/events/isafworlds/isafworlds.htm and for a full round-up of events see next week's Afloat or visit www.afloatweymouth.co.uk