The National Yacht Club's Finn Lynch is lying 16th after his first two races on the Bay of Marseille in the ILCA7 Men's Dinghy Class.
The double Irish Olympian scored a ninth in the first race and 25th in the second, where he dropped back to 33rd twice then recovered to ninth before eventually finishing 25th.
Taking the overall lead is Peruvian Stefano Peschiera with a six and one to hold a seven pt lead over reigning Olympic champion Matt Wearn (12 2) of Australia, with third Eduardo Marques (5 11) of Portugal on 16 pts.
The winner of the first race was the Netherlands Duke Bos, who is fifth after placing 20th in the second race. Pavlos Kontides (17 5) of Cyprus is sixth overall.
Britain’s Micky Beckett started on the backfoot with a 19 and 9, to place 11th overall.
Results are here
Explainer:
Medals for the Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 7) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 43-strong fleet over 10 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 sailor with the smallest overall points total will win gold.