Defending champion Ben Ainslie took over the lead on the second day of the Laser European championship from Peter Ronholt (Denmark) after winning both of his heats (series races three and four).

Ainslie, a three-time winner of the European championship, struck back from bad starts in both races, grinding his way through the 120-boat fleet. After getting caught in the pack in the first start of the day, Ainslie ducked a number of transoms to work his way to the right of the fleet, rounding the windward mark in the top 10. ‘I didn’t have a great start and I had to make a decision whether to take a lot of transoms or be patient wait and see if the wind went my way,’ explained Ben. With devastating offwind speed he was third by the leeward mark with Luis Martinez (Spain) leading the race. By the next windward mark Ainslie had worked his way up to second and finally passed the Spaniard on the final (broad) reach, building up a 15-second cushion by the finish. After a short delay while the sea breeze set in, Ainslie broke away from a buried start and opted for the far right where he found more pressure to round the windward mark in third behind team mates Daniel Holman and Paul Goodison.

After an impressive tacking duel on the next windward leg with Goodison and Holman, Ainslie slotted inside at the windward mark to move into the lead, holding on to the finish with Paul Goodison second. Holman defended third position from the more experienced Serge Kats (Netherlands).

No overall results are currently available but Ainslie is believed to be in the overall lead.