FOUR local sailors are in action in Spain this week as they battle to secure places in the Great Britain sailing team at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Charlotte Dobson, Anna Burnet, Luke Patience and Lorenzo Chiavarini – all of them members of the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club in Rhu – are competing in the Trofeo Princesa Sofia Iberostar regatta in Mallorca against a top-class field of racers from around the world.

At the end of the fourth day of fleet racing, all were well placed to secure spots in the medal races on Saturday.

Burnet and John Gimson lay second in the Nacra 17 class after Thursday's qualifiers, while Patience and his partner Chris Grube continued their assault on the men's 470 leaderboard, climbing to second place on the back of fifth- and tenth-place finishes on Thursday.

Dobson and her sailing partner Saskie Tidey are on the 49er FX podium, in third place, though Chiavarini slipped to seventh in the Laser gold fleet.

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Sailors must finish in the top 10 by the end of Friday to make Saturday’s medal races.

Following the third day of action on Wednesday, when Patience and Grube won one of their races, the 32-year-old Rhu racer said: “It’s been a key day for us actually. We’ve been in the lighter range of winds for the last nine or 10 months and we’ve not found our feet very well.

"Today was a bit of a breakthrough day to win it when the wind is light.

"Historically we’re launched when it’s breezy and the lighter wind is our weakness, so we’re really happy, it’s a big step forward towards Tokyo 2020.”

And Burnet, 26, added: “We’re taking every race and every manoeuvre as they come.

"It’s taken a lot of focus – the races have been really tricky and you never really know which side of the race course is going to come in.

"We’ve just been trying to do all the details well.

"Our goal is to perform our best. We’re looking for a good result from this regatta and we can do that if we’re at our best.”

A total of 1,225 sailors from 68 countries are taking part in the event, with the medal races due to take place on Saturday. You can follow the progress of the local quartet at trofeoprincesasofia.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall.