The Dun Laoghaire pairing, from the Royal St George and Royal Irish yacht clubs, took charge early on in the fifth race of the ten-race series, held in a maximum of just six knots of breeze.
Owens/Lawton rounded the first mark 41 seconds clear of their closest rivals, the Italians, who gradually reeled them in, but never quite managed to overhaul the Irish pair
The win boosted their overall position to ninth overall, which would put them inside the cut for the ten-boat medal race if they could maintain it until after race ten.
However, a disastrous second race today saw them slip back outside the top ten to eleventh.
In the zephyr-like conditions of Qingdao, teams are having to make their mark early on in the race or face a gradual slide to the back of the fleet. The results have been correspondingly inconsistent throughout the fleet. Nearly all the boats in the top ten have posted at least one result in the late teens or early twenties. Owens/Lawton are the only boat in the fleet to have posted two wins.
Having led from Mark 1 in the previous race, Owens/Lawton found themselves in last place at Mark 1 in race six, a reversal of fortunes that they managed to improve by only one place by the end,finishing more than six minutes adrift of the leaders.
The slip will be hugely disappointing for the pair and their followers, who hoped that their 22nd in race would be their discard. The Australian pair of Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page still lead, followed by the French pair and the Athens silver medallists, Britain's Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield, currently in the broze position.
Radial sailor Ciara Peelo looks set to improve her overall standing today, currently lying 15th in the Radial class in race three, which is ongoing.
Finn sailor Tim Goodbody has maintained his run of consistent mid-teen results with a sixteenth, and is lying sixteenth again in race seven, which is still in progress on the water.
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