BRYONY Shaw set the pace for the British team on an action-packed first day of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi.

Shaw, who trains out of the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, won all three of today’s races in a strong RS:X women’s fleet, while Alison Young, Nick Thompson and 49er sailors Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign made solid starts to the event.

The 31-year-old Shaw, competing in the Emirati capital for the first time, revelled in the 10-15 knots on one of the outside course areas which threw up a mixture of swell and waves.

Going up against an 18-strong fleet which includes Olympic, world and European champions, Shaw finished the day high on confidence at the top of the leaderboard.

Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey is eighth in the men’s RS:X class.

Portland-based Young opened her regatta series with a race win in the Laser Radial event, followed by a ninth in her second race to sit second place overall. Thompson is third overall in the men’s Laser class.

The racing on the 49er race course was exceptionally close with little separating the fleet across the three races.

Fletcher and Sign lie second overall after picking up the first race victory before finishing behind Poland’s Tomasz Januszewski and Jacek Nowak in the next.

The Brits did not sail the third race due to equipment problems, leaving the Polish team to take their second race win and the overall lead.

John Pink and Stuart Bithell are sixth overall, with Dave Evans and Ed Powys eighth.

Returning to the water after a three-month absence, Sophie Weguelin and Portland’s Eilidh McIntyre marked their competitive comeback with a ninth and third, putting them fifth overall in the women’s 470.

Finn sailor Ed Wright is currently sitting just outside the top-10 in 11th.

In the 49erFX women’s skiff event, Kate Macgregor and her new crew Kirstie Urwin occupy 16th after three races, with Lucy Macgregor-Andrew Walsh and Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves eighth and ninth respectively in the Nacra 17 class.

Oliver Bridge is third overall in the kiteboarding.

Racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final continues tomorrow , with the final medal races on Sunday.