Goodison’s improvement is offset by Percy’s suffering

The 34-year-old was 18th after fifth- and eighth-place finishes on Monday but shot all the way up to second following a fourth in his opening race and a win in his second.

Australian Tom Slingsby took the lead with successive victories in his two outings and with six races to go will be difficult to dislodge.

But Goodison, the Olympic champion who is already assured of a title defence in London next year, could be the man to do it if his third and fourth placings are anything to go by.

“You are just trying to keep consistent all throughout the week and this isn’t really a goal regatta for me,” said Skandia Team GBR sailor Goodison.

“We have changed quite a lot of stuff over the last three months after the qualification for 2012 was announced and we are now just trying to see how it works in racing.

“And it is fantastic that I can try these things out on the world stage against my rivals before the Games next year.

“I arrived in Australia on November 20 so I was almost itching to go when the other guys started last week. It is nice to be finally out on the water.”

Great Britain suffered a double setback, however, with Iain Percy suffering a back injury and Ben Rhodes forced to pull out due to a rib problem.

Percy was left in agony when his back gave out while he and team-mate Andrew Simpson were well placed in the defence of their crown in the first race of the day for the Star fleet.

The British team were already reeling from the news that Rhodes and his team-mate Stevie Morrison had been forced to retire from the 49er event after Rhodes succumbed to an injury.

Percy’s injury was so serious he was left in tears, while his inability to assist Simpson meant the pair picked up their second yellow flag of the regatta.

The 2008 Olympic gold medallists, overnight leaders by 12 points, were third when injury hit, and Simpson said: “Iain was in tears, crying, and really in a bad way.

“I haven’t actually ever seen him that bad before. It’s not very nice when you see a grown man cry and he was in absolute agony.

“We tried to make the plan to try and literally just get around the course but somehow, with Iain basically in a paralysed way down the run, we got a yellow flag which was our second of the regatta and obviously we had to pull out of the race.”

Investment specialist Skandia is the principal sponsor of the British sailing team. For more information go to www.skandiateamgbr.com.