Norwich's Nick Dempsey has long been Great Britain's No.1 windsurfer but he fired a warning shot to his rivals after storming to the Skandia Sail for Gold title – insisting he's sailing faster than ever.

Norwich's Nick Dempsey has long been Great Britain's No.1 windsurfer but he fired a warning shot to his rivals after storming to the Skandia Sail for Gold title – insisting he's sailing faster than ever.

The 30-year-old was in scintillating form on the London 2012 Olympic waters in Weymouth last week, sitting top of the RS:X men's pile after 11 races, winning four of them.

He was pushed all the way by New Zealand's JP Tobin but held his nerve and made the most of home advantage to take gold by a point, leaving the Kiwi to settle for silver.

And Dempsey admits he is feeling better than ever, a dangerous thing for his Olympic rivals considering they are all due back to Weymouth in August for the 2012 Olympic test event.

'It feels brilliant to have won because we had some pretty similar conditions most days so it's been immensely tight,' said Dempsey, who finished fourth at the Beijing Games in 2008.

'JP Tobin and Dorian van Rijsselberge have been sailing amazingly, so I couldn't really put a foot wrong as they made it very difficult. But to finish off with the gold is amazing as it's been tough, it's a really good result.

'I feel as though I am sailing faster now and that bodes really well for coming back here for the pre-Olympic test event and hopefully I can keep it up all the way to London 2012. I feel good and I'm looking forward to the next six weeks training and to doing the same again.'

With the Sail for Gold regatta acting as the penultimate leg of the ISAF World Cup series Dempsey's win lifts him into second behind Holland's Dorian van Rijsselberge.

And after finishing top of the World Cup pile for the first time this year, Dempsey was in high spirits that he could stay in pole position all the way until the London 2012 Olympics.

'Everyone was peaking for this regatta so it was a good indicator of how things are going and if I can carry this form through then I will be happy,' he added.

'The pressure has been off for me because I'm the British No.1 and it gives me free reign to just focus on the pre-Olympics and the Olympics themselves.

'You see all the other countries battling for that one spot for their nation and it is just an advantage to not have to do that and to still win is great and hopefully I can keep it up.'