Luke Patience and Chris Grube went to war with the waves at Enoshima Yacht Harbour on Sunday and emerged still in the hunt for an Olympic medal. 

Rhu sailor Patience and Englishman Grube came ninth and sixth in the day’s two races in the men’s 470 class, with wind conditions not fully suited to their strengths. 

That dropped them from second in the standings to fourth but they’re level on points with the Swedish duo currently occupying bronze and only four points behind the Spaniards in silver. 

Mathew Belcher and Wil Ryan of Australia have a comfortable lead at the head of the fleet but with two races still to come, before the double points medal race, Patience is content with the position Team GB’s pair find themselves in.

“It wasn’t our best day but it was good enough to keep the eye on the prize and be in the fight,” said the Scot. 

“We’ll go to our beds tonight knowing that we can fight for any colour of medal, which is all you can hope for. To be able to say that it vital. 

“Conditions were hard today. The wind strength in our boat, where she’s never quite flowing beautifully, you’re fighting for the speed. There’s not much speed. 

“You’re fighting, fighting, fighting and our class is very dynamic because we’re able to use our kinetics and bodies to pump the sails.

“It was a full battle, heart-rates were high. Downwind is nice because there were good waves but upwind was a war – a war all day.” 

Monday will see two further 470 class fleet races before the medal contest to round out the regatta on Wednesday. 

And as they target a place on the Olympic podium, Grube believes that with a few improvements from Sunday, they can put themselves in the mix. 

“There’s still a long way to go – still two fleet races and a medal race to come,” he said.

“We made a few mistakes today but ultimately if we pick up from there, tighten the screws a little bit, then we’ll be in good shape.”

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