Britain's men's four got their World Cup season off to a flying start by cruising to gold in Munich.

Tom Lucy, Steve Williams, Peter Reed and Andy Hodge - a substitute for the injured Tom James stormed to victory ahead of the Czech Republic and Germany in six minutes 29.12 seconds.

"It couldn't have been better today," said Hodge. "That's the best start to the season we've had yet."

But Williams sounded a note of caution adding: "It's only the start. You have to respect crews like the Dutch. They will go away and do their homework and come back stronger and New Zealand, the world champions, weren't even here today. So we've still got a lot to do."

Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase were also winners in the lightweight men's double as were their open weight counterparts Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham.

The British women's quadruple scull world champions underlined their Beijing potential with a win despite strong opposition from Germany and China and Alan Campbell struck gold in reshuffled the men's single scull.

Britain's silver medals came from the lightweight men's four and the newly-reshuffled men's eight who gave Australia a storming race to the line in the final event of the day as well as from Andrea Dennis in the lightweight women's single scull.

"It's been a significantly good day for GB Rowing to open the season's racing programme but we need to keep our feet on the ground," said GB rowing performance director David Tanner. "Not every nation took part in some events and there is a long way to go yet this summer."

More news from SportingLife.com