British top sailors were confident and determined to pocket enough golds to assure the nation's leading position on the Olympic sailing podium.

"I am determined to win. I finished fourth in last Olympics. I've been waiting for four years to get it right," said British medal favorite Paul Goodison from Laser class.

"I feel pretty confident and capable of winning. I won the two test events in 2006 and 2007. Finger crossed that I could come on top this year," he said, adding that he seemed to "cope with the pressure quite well."

He said the toughest thing to deal with in Qingdao was the heat. "Every day, we have to spend around five to six hours on the water, so we must drink a lot of water and keep hydrated," he said.

"Olympic sailing is all about winning and be the best," said Sarah Ayton, helm of Britain's Yngling trio, who won the gold in 2004 Athens and two world championships in 2007 and 2008.

A total of 18 sailors represent Britain to dig gold in all the 11 events of nine classes at the 2008 Olympic sailing tournament. Among them, the legendary double gold medalist Ben Ainslie aimed to win his third successive gold in Olympics.

"Ben Ainslie has got his boat designer to change his sail for Qingdao. This boat has to win the gold medal since I spent so much effort polishing it," said Peter Bentley, technician from British sailing team.

The British sailing team topped the sailing medal table in 2004 Athens with two gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)