Mersea sailor Saskia Clark has been continuing her preparations for the Beijing Olympics by utilising some China-like conditions which are a bit closer to home than the waters of the Yellow Sea.

The 28-year-old West Mersea Yacht Club member was delighted that she and skipper Christina Bassadone had won the combined 470 Class at the Royal Yachting Association Olympic Classes Spring Series at Hayling Island, near Portsmouth, last week.

She said it was especially pleasing as it was a victory that came against Athens Olympics men's silver medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield.

Clark said: "We were really pleased with the how the weekend went.

"Our training partners, Nick and Joe won the Grade One regatta in Hyéres at the end of April and are a team that are famous for consistently excellent performance, so to beat them over a series of six races is certainly a step forward in our preparations."

Clark and Bassadone used the Hayling Island event to continue fine-tuning preparations for the Games in August.

They are expecting the sailing venue of Qingdao to feature tidal waters with light winds and Clark added that they were pleased to discover that Hayling Island provided a chance to get more practice in those types of conditions under their belt.

"Despite having travelled Europe over the past few months in search of a China-like venue, the conditions in Hayling were the best we have found," said Clark.

"It has had light winds and tidal conditions, although the sea state was much flatter than China.

"We have been training at Hayling all week, continuing to practice in the tide, which is something that puts us at an advantage to the foreign teams having it on our doorstep.

"Then we have had two days coaching by Ian Williams, who is current match racing world champion.

"Match racing is a different discipline of sailing altogether as, with just two boats racing to win, it doesn't matter how long they take to do it.

"Although the skills he will teach us aren't directly relevant to what we will be able to use, they might come in handy in the final few races of the Games when the opportunity might present itself to take another boat out of contention and secure our medal.

"It will be useful to have the skills, whether we use them or not."

Clark and Bassadone will be flying to Amsterdam early this week as they continue their Olympic preparations at the Delta Lloyd Regatta, which starts on Wednesday.