Marcel van de Veen  of the Netherlands said after the Three-Person Keelboat (Sonar) race: 'We came first. It's perfect of course. We found the right shifts.'

Japan coach Taketaro Suizu was not satisfied with his team's placing. He said: 'The result was not so good, but it was a good day for testing and the team will get better.'

But skipper Shinya Yamamoto said: 'I'm in good condition. Today has been a tuning day, tomorrow will be different.'

Great Britain's Hannah Stodel and her colleagues did not finish the practice race but she was not worried.

We didn't finish. We never finish a practice race. It's one of our superstitions.

Hannah Stodel

She said: 'We didn't finish. We never finish a practice race. It's one of our superstitions - and it drives our coach mad... We were doing really well but it's always bad luck to finish.'

The athletes also spoke about how they're enjoying life in Weymouth and Portland.

Edmund Rath of Austria said: 'We take the words from the Opening Ceremony "go out and have fun". Tonight we go out for a beer in Weymouth, the oldest pub in Weymouth actually - it's four or five hundred years old.'

Suizu said: 'We can't find a Japanese restaurant here, so we're going to go for a Chinese dinner tonight.'

Stodel said: 'It's great - it's nice to finally be here. It's a nice chilled, relaxed atmosphere.

'We had an egg dropping competition last night and made padding and parachutes to see how far we could drop them.'