Hyeres, 27th April 2012 - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson geared up for next week's Star Worlds with gold at a windy Hyeres World Cup regatta. The Olympic champions, looking to clinch a second world title in three years, led going into the final medal race and won by one minute 20 seconds.

Palma, 7th April 2012 - Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won silver medal at the World Cup regatta in Palma.

Perth, 14th December 2011 - Percy and Andrew Simpson have today retired from the Perth 2011 Sailing World Championships following Percy's back injury sustained on Tuesday.

The Star class defending World Champions and Olympic gold medallists were leading the overall standings when injury struck during Tuesday's first race.

"We're really disappointed to have to pull out," said the 35-year-old Percy, who has already been selected to compete the London 2012 Games with Simpson.

"We were having a great regatta, were sailing well and were really enjoying the racing. We haven't done a lot of racing recently so it was great to be racing together with Bart again, and to be racing as well as we were.

"It's certainly frustrating, but it's more important for me to concentrate on getting fixed and fit again so that this doesn't happen when it really matters at the Games next summer."

London, 20th September 2011 - Today sailing became the first Olympic sport to have officially selected any of its athletes for London 2012. Double Olympic champion Iain is aiming for a third Olympic gold and second in partnership with Andrew.

Iain commented:

“That’s the first hurdle over, but really ever since Beijing we’ve been focusing on 29 July 2012 and all the hard work over the past few years has been to make sure we’re in the best possible shape come that day. “I’m really proud to be representing Team GB at my fourth Olympics. It’s every athlete’s dream to win an Olympic medal at home – it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we’ll be giving it our all to be up there on the podium again next year.”

Andrew added:

“It’s a real privilege and a special moment to be selected for the London 2012 Games, but selection alone is not enough – it’s just a means to an end. We want to be there on the startline in 2012 with a real shot at retaining our gold, so everything we’ve been working on since Beijing 2008 has been geared to towards optimising our racing, our equipment and ourselves towards the challenges we expect from Weymouth as a venue.

GB 2012 Olympic sailing team:

Finn: Ben Ainslie

Star: Iain Percy, Andrew Simpson

Laser: Paul Goodison

Women's 470: Hannah Mills, Saskia Clark Elliott

6m: Lucy Macgregor, Kate Macgregor, Annie Lush

RS X (Women): Bryony Shaw

RS X (Men): Nick Dempsey

49er: To be decided

Men's 470: To be decided Laser Radial: To be decided

Plymouth, 9th September 2011 - As they prepare for the second America's Cup World Series event that kicks off in Plymouth this weekend, so Torbjorn Tornqvist's Swedish flagged Artemis Racing team have announced their crew line-up. Sailing with skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA), wing trimmer Sean Clarkson (NZL), trimmer Morgan Trubovich (NZL) and bowman Andy Fethers (AUS) will be joined by British tactician Iain Percy.

2nd August 2011

Weymouth, 2nd August 2011 - Sixteen of Great Britain's 2012 sailing hopefuls, including TSMs Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, are set to face tough international opposition on the Olympics waters for the second time in two months, as they prepare to do battle at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta - the official LOCOG test event for the 2012 sailing competition (2-13 August).

The top British crews in each of the ten Olympic classes at June's Skandia Sail for Gold World Cup regatta were selected to represent Skandia Team GBR at this 2012 dress rehearsal, where just one crew per country is permitted to compete, in keeping with the Games format.

The Weymouth and Portland International Regatta - part of LOCOG's 'London Prepares' series - will see some 440 sailors from 66 nations competing at the venue they will hope to return to in a year's time.

"This really is a true trial of what it's going to be like in the summer of 2012, and to that end it will be very exciting from a competitive perspective," explained RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park.

"Here will be a lot of learning opportunities from both Skandia Team GBR's perspective and from the organisational side. But it also means that the fleet sizes are smaller, and the total number of sailors is smaller.

"We've got just over 400 sailors here at this event by comparison to the 1,000 plus who were here for Skandia Sail for Gold, but still the same number of nations, still the same number of classes. We're in for a different but more intense competition I think."

The women's match racers kick off the staggered competition schedule with the first of their round robin matches on Tuesday 2 August, with Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor considered among the front-runners of the 12 competing teams.

"We're looking forward to it a lot - we've been training quite hard for this and it's going to be really good," said helm Lucy Macgregor after the second of the team's two official training sessions in the brand new LOCOG-supplied Elliot 6m boats.

"It's a bit of a milestone, sailing in the Olympic boats for the first time and it makes you realise how quickly it's all coming around. It's a little bit scary, but the boats are in good condition - there's a few things that need changing, but we could have guessed that a few months ago. I think it might take a few days to get into it but they'll be good to go in a few days' time."

"It's a year to go, it's the test event, it's all pretty exciting and it's all starting to come together and starting to feel very real," continued the 24-year-old Macgregor.

"It's scary to think there's a year to go definitely - or under a year now - but it's also really exciting and it does motivate you that bit more to get out of bed and make a difference each day to your campaign."

The women's match racing teams will face two days of round robin competition before the RS:X men's and women's windsurfing events start their regatta on Thursday 4 August, with the addition of the 470 men, 470 women, Laser and Laser Radial events on Friday 5 August, and the Finn, Star and 49er classes getting underway on Saturday 6 August. The medal races will run from 11-13 August inclusive.

The organisers' emphasis at the regatta is to test the venue, systems, equipment, workforce and procedures ahead of the main event next year. With Weymouth's Nothe Gardens having been rubber-stamped this week as the official ticketed spectator area for th

e Games - a first for Olympic sailing - part of that process is set to include a shake-up of the race areas which classes may have become used to racing on at previous regattas in the venue.

"There's a real big emphasis at this event to looking at where they're going to race for London 2012," Park explained.

"There's quite a lot of pressure on the sport to provide a show for all the spectators to see every day come 2012 and the result of that is there's going to be far more racing close to the shore than traditionally we would see here in Weymouth or indeed at any other previous Olympic Games.

"That changes the nature of the racing, so it's going to be quite interesting to see how that goes. It certain wind directions, that may end up risking or compromising the racing and that's going to be part of the learning process for the race management team. I suspect that for the majority of the time, they'll get it right, but maybe once or twice through the process of allowing it

things won't turn out quite the way they want, and hopefully that will have a minimal effect on the outcome.

"We just have to accept that that's all part of the learning process - it is going to be different, it's going to be the same for everyone and hopefully that will all make us better prepared both from a team, sailor and a race management perspective in 2012.

"We're quite excited by those opportunities and it should make for great racing."

With just this event and the 2012 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta the only opportunities for major competition in the Games venue before the Olympic regatta itself kicks off, Park is keen that his Skandia Team GBR charges put on a positive show on their home waters, but also that lessons are learned for 12 months' time.

"It would certainly be great for confidence if we were able to be in the medal zone in all of our events, at either this event or at next year's Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta. We had a great Sail for Gold Regatta earlier on this year, the team did well and we were certainly in th e medal zone in most classes. If we can come away from this event with ideally maybe four medals then we'll be pleased that we're on track, and hopefully in the other six events we should be fighting in and around the medal zone with top six or top seven results in those other classes as well.

"Then at least we'll know we're going to be in the right part of the fleet in 12 months' time."

Park continued: "Other than that, it's just another step on the ladder as we get closer and closer to the Games. We do still have 12 months to go, so it's a great opportunity to make good ground. Whatever the outcome here, it won't be a time for celebration or a time for panic.

"It will be a case of taking on board the lessons and continuing to build where we need to, consolidate where we need to, and ensure that we try and make sure that we keep ticking all the boxes and leave no stone unturned as we move through the next 360 days."

Skandia Team GBR squad for the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta:

Laser - Paul Goodison
Laser Radial - Charlotte Dobson
Finn - Ben Ainslie
RS:X Men - Nick Dempsey
RS:X Women - Bryony Shaw
470 Men - Nick Rogers & Chris Grube
470 Women - Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark
49er - Stevie Morrison & Ben Rhodes
Star - Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson
Women's Match Racing - Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush & Kate Macgregor

9th April 2011

Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson secured Britain's first gold medal with a day to spare in the

star class at the Sailing World Cup in Mallorca. The defending world and Olympic champions

amassed a 27-point unassailable lead before Saturday's medal race.

Despite admitting they were not operating at top speed, Percy and Simpson still found

enough pace to outwit their opponents.

"We're normally pretty fast and upwind certainly we weren't that quick so we've got to work

on that a lot to try and get faster," said Percy, who will defend his World Championship crown

alongside Simpson at Perth in September.

6th August 2010

The three final races held today between Sir Keith Mills' TEAMORIGIN and Larry Ellison's BMW ORACLE Racing at the 1851 Cup in the Solent, saw the British afterguard of Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson claim victory over the 2010 America's Cup champions from the US led by James Spithill.

This week in Cowes, the 1851 Cup regatta saw TEAMORIGIN come out on top on the first two days of windward-leeward match racing. However victory on Thursday in the re-enactment of the 1851 race clockwise around the Isle of Wight, which spawned the America's Cup, the pinnacle event in yacht racing, went to BMW ORACLE Racing, just as their forebears on America had 159 years earlier. While TEAMORIGIN were ahead on points going into today's match racing, morally it was even between the two teams.

BMW ORACLE Racing claimed the first of the final day's triple points scoring windward-leeward races to even the score with TEAMORIGIN.

In this Ainslie nearly managed to lock Spithill into ‘dead man's corner', the area of the start box behind the pin, however both were early for the line and the highly experienced BMW ORACLE Racing skipper managed to wriggle back into contention. TEAMORIGIN had the upper hand up the first part of the beat, but by the first mark rounding BMW ORACLE Racing had taken the lead. At the weather mark TEAMORIGIN were on BMW ORACLE Racing's transom and in attempting to get the inside overlap, weren't able to achieve this, and the British crew ‘expressed their frustration' to the umpires and their opponents for which they were duly awarded with a penalty for ‘dissent'.

From here the British team trailed the Americans around the race course, their defeat as BMW ORACLE Racing crossed the line coinciding with the British team's spinnaker bursting.

Race two provided a fantastic display of the drama possible in top-level match racing.

In this TEAMORIGIN swapped sides in the pre-start to take the right side and a favourable shift soon after the start gun caused them to move to take an early lead.

This was to be the tightest race of the day as was proved on the first run, when BMW ORACLE Racing were on TEAMORIGIN's transom creating a wind shadow. To get out of this situation Ben Ainslie luffed his opponent, causing the spinnaker on Spithill's boat to touch them resulting in a penalty being awarded to BMW ORACLE Racing. The American team managed to slip ahead after this, leading for the next lap, but not by enough to clear their penalty before the finish - but this was not without considerable effort spent trying: On the final run both boats at one point found themselves pointing the wrong way up the race course as TEAMORIGIN attempted to prevent the American boat completing its penalty turn. Eventually the two boats did finish the race neck and neck, but with BMW ORACLE Racing having failed to complete their penalty. 7-4 to TEAMORIGIN on points.

In the final race today with the wind exceeding 20 knots, Ben Ainslie once again excelled in the pre-start shovelling his opponent well beyond the right side of the start box. This resulted in both boats being late for the start line, but with TEAMORIGIN ahead by a boat length and in control. BMW ORACLE Racing attempted to engage through the race, but were too far behind. The American team's fate was sealed when during the spinnaker hoist on the final rounding of the weather mark they ran over their sail. This disaster handed TEAMORIGIN the race win, but also victory in the 1851 Cup Regatta with a final scoreline of 10-4.

Commenting on defeating the defenders of the America's Cup, Team Principle of TEAMORIGIN, Sir Keith Mills said "We've seen some of the best match racing this week in Cowes from two extraordinary teams. The event has really put the America's Cup back on the map and a British boat beating current America's Cup holders has made the whole event very special"

21st January 2010

British sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson added the Star class world title to their Olympic crown with victory in Rio de Janeiro.

The pair, who won the two-man keelboat class at the 2008 Beijing Games, dominated the Star worlds on the waters of the 2016 Games in Brazil.

Leading going into the sixth and final race, the Britons covered the Swiss, the only team that could topple them.
Both boats came well down the pack but the Britons did enough for victory.

The 33-year-old Englishmen scored a first, two seconds and a fourth, with a worst finish of 11th discarded, for a total of nine points going into the final race on Guanabara Bay, crossing the line 16th.

The Swiss pair of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico de Maria, who trailed the Britons by eight points ahead of the last day, came 12th in the light winds to finish 11 points adrift in silver on Thursday.

Brazilians Torben Grael, the world sailor of the year in 20009, and Marcelo Ferreira came third in race six to claim the bronze medal. Percy, who was also Star world champion in 2002, admitted that the shifting winds had made for a challenging finale among the 81-boat fleet.

"We started off chasing Mazzari to the unfavoured end of the course, but when the wind shifted 40 degrees to the left it then became the favoured end of the course and we had managed to push them into a good position," he said.

"We managed to catch up so we were quite close to him in the end and then we were able to relax and enjoy the last lap of the course knowing we were world champions.

"Boat speed is 90% down to the crew and Andrew really made it easy for me this week enabling me to point the boat in any direction and go faster than anyone else."
Simpson added: "It's not been an easy week and we made some mistakes - it's a good reminder for us we've got some work to do to be the best for 2012 but we're really chuffed to have won."

Percy and Simpson were world bronze medallists in 2007, while Percy also won Olympic gold in the single-handed Finn class in the Sydney Games of 2000.

British team-mates John Gimson and Ed Greig finished the regatta in 41st place.

The next Star World Championships will be in December 2011 in Fremantle, Australia.

Overall results after six races (discarding the worst result):

1. Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) - 20 (2+11+2+1+4+16)
2. Flavio Marazzi/Enrico De Maria (SUI) - 29 (30+1+6+4+6+12)
3. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) - 39 (5+25+21+7+3+3)
4. Lars Grael/Ronald Seifert (BRA) - 44 (35+15+12+10+2+5)
5. Alan Adler/Guilherme de Almeida (BRA) - 44 (6+5+11+13+9+74)
6. Diego Negri/Fernando Colaninno (ITA) - 52 (23+18+5+6+13+10)
7. Fredrik Loof/John Tillander (SWE) - 52 (8+9+18+19+11+6)
8. Eivind Melleby/Petter Pedersen (NOR) - 54 (9+10+4+16+16+15)
9. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) - 64 (3+19+50+5+5+32)
10. Johannes Babendererde/Timo Jacobs (GER) - 66 (1+8+39+8+15+34)