It's all change at the top of the leaderboard after nine races sailed in the men's Skiff Class at the Paris Olympics – except for a consistent Ireland – who stay second overall after a tricky day on the Marseilles race track.
Ireland's Robert Dickson (HYC) and Sean Waddilove (SSC) dropped one place to be third overall after eight races this afternoon but recovered in race nine to be back up to second as Spain became the new leaders and New Zealand dropped to third.
The Irish are 11 points off the lead going into Wednesday's last three fleet races of the Paris Olympics men's 49er skiff regatta in Marseille.
Results are provisional and subject to protest.
The Dubliners added another fourth to their scoresheet in Tuesday's first race of the day; it was their sixth top ten of the Olympic regatta and the perfect riposte to Monday night's disqualification from race six over a disputed infringement with Diego Botin Le Chever and Florian Trittel Paul of Spain.
Conditions were different on the third day of competition, with a medium southerly breeze and waves.
Botin said: “Today was a very tough day with a different scenario in the first race than in the two next ones.
“In the first race the wind was coming from the left side of the mountain and in the next two races the wind was turning on the right side.
“We managed to position the boat well and we are really happy with having done so at such a difficult day at the Olympics and we will see if tomorrow we can have a similar day and repeat it.”
Race eight, however, saw the Howth/Skerries duo drop out of the top ten and count a 13th place, which saw them temporarily lose their coveted second overall placing to their Spanish arch-rivals.
An indication of how tight the points are at the top of the scoreboard is that the Spaniards shared the same 33 points as the leaders Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie of New Zealand after eight races sailed. Ireland was third on 37.
With a tricky southerly breeze up to 14 knots, race nine of the regatta saw the Spaniards take a second place and overhaul the Kiwis for the overnight lead as McHardie and McKenzie posted a lowly 17th. Ireland took another top-ten result and added a ninth to their scoresheet to be four points clear of the New Zealanders, who are now third.
Dickson said: “Today was super, super tricky. Wind off the mountain and it was coming either side. It was very unpredictable, but I think we managed it okay.
“We’re pretty happy to be able to get away with some decent results today.”
Waddilove said: “There’s still a decent amount of racing and we’ll just stick to what’s working. We just focus on it, race by race and not really thinking about results too much.”
McKenzie said: “So the breeze was coming straight over the mountain, sometimes from the left and sometimes from the right.
“It was a very difficult sea state so it was important to try and figure out exactly where the breeze was coming from to put yourself in the right spots. It was a tricky day.”
As the Dublin crew sailed ashore, they were greeted with aloud roar from the crowd gathered along the pier wall at Marina Roucas Blanc where 150,000 spectator tickets have reportedly been sold for the sailing events.
"My Mum and Dad, my girlfriend and my family are there. I can barely make them out sometimes because there's so many in a big crowd," said Dickson after coming ashore. "It's really nice to see everyone here supporting (us) and they're probably the loudest people on the pier, which is quite nice."
Racing continues on Wednesday with three final fleet races before the double points medal race.
Results are here
Explainer
Medals for the Men’s Skiff (49er will be decided by the cumulative results of the 20-strong fleet over 12 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first.
Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points.
The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The crew with the smallest overall points total will win gold.