Under sunny skies and in a 12 knot wind two more races at the Laser world championship were completed off Cape Cod, USA. The fleet is divided in half with each fleet racing two races over a trapezoid course of six-miles with each race lasting 70 minutes.

Sweden’s Karl Suneson had a perfect day winning both races in his group. Suneson had an easy victory in his first race. Behind him Brendan Casey from Australia won a three continent battle between Roope Suomalainen (Finland), Gareth Blackenberg (South Africa) and Paul Goodison (Great Britain). He had to work hard in the second race. Leading at the first mark he was overtaken on the downwind leg by four boats but climbed back to second on the next upwind behind Blackenberg. Sunneson overtook Blackenberg on the next downwind to hold his lead until the finish. Casey said “I’m pretty happy with my two races. It was very close racing with most of the place changes taking place downwind. Everyone is going fast!”

First place honours were shared in the other group between Ben Lamb from Australia and defending champion Robert Scheidt from Brazil. Lamb’s performance was especially good considering his best previous position of 23rd. He won the start at the port end and went left to take the lead for the rest of the race. However, a premature start in the second race of the day cost him a good 10th place. Scheidt made a good recovery in his first race to finish fifth which moves him up to second overall after races have been completed.

The weather forecast for the day predicted a breeze backing to the left throughout the day and most of the fleet in all the races favoured the left-hand side of the upwind legs. In fact the wind held steady with only 10 degree oscillations for the first race before shifting 10 degrees to the left for the second race. Apart from Lamb, the leading sailors chose a conservative course working the shifts.

Overnight leader, Ed Wright from Great Britain learnt his lesson after a 19th in the first race of the day when he finished third in the second race. Wright said “It was very pleasant racing but very testing. I’m more tired today than I was in the stronger winds the previous day.”

Wright retains his overall lead by two points after dropping his 19th place. Behind the cream is coming to the top with seven other sailors all counting single figure results.

Thunderstorms, rain squalls and 35 knot winds are forecast for today (Sunday), the last day of the qualifier series before the fleet is split into gold and silver groups. The Race Committee have scheduled an early start in attempt to complete one more qualifier race before the frontal system arrives.

Results (after five races with one discard)

1 GBR Edward Wright 7.0pts

2 BRA Robert Scheidt 9.0 pts

3 AUS Brendan Casey 10.0 pts

4 SWE Karl Suneson 12.0 pts

5 RSA Gareth Blanckenberg 12.0 pts

6 GBR Paul Goodison 18.0 pts

7 FIN Roope Suomalainen 22.0 pts

8 SLO Vasilij Zbogar 22.0 pts

9 FIN Fredrik Westman 23.0 pts

10 SWE Peter Santen 26.0 pts

11 GBR Mark Howard 27.0 pts

12 SWE Daniel Birgmark 36.0 pts

13 NED Marc De Haas 37.0 pts

14 CRO Mate Arapov 38.0 pts

15 AUT Andreas Geritzer 39.0 pts

16 NED Pieter-Jan Postma 39.0 pts

17 ITA Diego Negri 40.0 pts

18 POR Gustavo Lima 44.0 pts

19 TUR Ali Kemal Tufekci 46.0 pts

20 ESP Luis Martinez 47.0 pts