With no sailing on Day 3 (no wind) and Day 4 (lay day) of the Fireball worlds in Teignmouth the race officer was keen to get in as many races as possible yesterday. However, the wind had other ideas. With a little gradient breeze and a substantial haze the prospects of a sea breeze were slim.

By 3pm the sea breeze had shown no signs of putting in an appearance. However, the news from the Met Office in Exeter was that a cold front was on its way, bringing with it a predicted 12 knots of breeze. Just before 5pm the wind showed signs of arriving and the fleet was released.

When the race started it was under flag ‘O’ the ‘Pumping’ flag. The fleet got away first time, but with the wind still not fully settled down it was a very challenging beat with first the right and then the left side looking favoured.

It was the Swiss pairing of Frédéric Duvoisin and Laurent Grob who sailed by far the best beat to lead at the windward mark. The breezy conditions were to the liking of the 2004 World Champion Andy Smith and crew Jonny Mildred who overhauled the Swiss team to take the race win.

With today’s challenging conditions the leader board was well shaken up. It is now the 2004 World Champion Andy Smith and Jonny Mildred who lead by a small margin from 2003 World Champions Chips Howarth and Vyv Townend, with the 2004 European Champions Tomas Musil and Jan Stantejsky in third place.