By Emily Goddard

Paul Goodison is to return to the site of his Beijing 2008 gold medal winning performance as part of the JP Morgan BAR team ©Getty ImagesApril 30 - Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison and Pippa Wilson are preparing to return to the Chinese city of Qingdao for the first time since their Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medal winning performances as part of the JP Morgan BAR team competing in Act 3 of the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS).

The British Olympic champion trio will be joined by team-mates Matt Cornwell and Nick Hutton for four days of racing on Fushan Bay from tomorrow as the 12 teams competing have been warned to "expect the unexpected" from the course.

"It's great to revisit China, I've not been back since the Games and it looks like it has changed a lot," Wilson, who won her Beijing gold in the Yngling class, said.

"As a sailing venue though, it's tricky - anything could happen.

"Whilst we were competing at the Olympics it was fairly light but this time round we are expecting it to be quite a bit windier, so potentially lots of drama and action.

"There's a lot of tide too so that could be challenging for us, but, we will do what we always do, just take the racing one day at a time."

Pippa Wilson (right) will go head to head with former Yngling team-mate Sarah Ayton, who is also competing on the 2014 series with The Wave, Muscat ©Getty ImagesPippa Wilson (right) will go head to head with former Yngling team-mate Sarah Ayton, who is also competing on the 2014 series with The Wave, Muscat ©Getty Images


Goodison, who secured Laser class gold at Beijing 2008, was also realistic about the challenges expected to be presented by the course.

"Qingdao is a special place for us and I have some great memories of training and racing here so it's nice to be back competing in China," he explained.

"But, it is a testing racing venue with difficult sailing conditions.

"Despite the boat failure on our last day in Oman, we were racing really well, it was all coming together and there are a lot of positives to [take] from our last event.

"We are now feeling more prepared and looking forward [to] our next event in the series."

The Wave, the 2012 and 2013 series champions, head into Act 3 in first position overall, followed by Swiss entry, Alinghi, and Emirates Team New Zealand.

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