As soon as the wind started to blow on the Bay of Cannes, sweeping away the remains of the morning haze, the 60 Dragons competing in the Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai started to cheer up. Their multi-coloured spinnakers creating a nearly perfect picture.
For the sixty one-design boats, the third racing day was another important step to the final battle – since the first discard gets into account after five races. The Dragons had two races today, the first one sailed in shifting, unstable air and the second in a much more set south-westerly of about ten knots. For Russian skipper Anatoly Loginov on Annapurna, the future seems pretty bright, his worst ranking being a fifteenth. Longinov can count on a good ten points advantage on second placed Ivan Bradbury’s British crew on Blue Haze, who in turn has only a thin lead on his world-famous countryman Lawrie Smith on Alfie, whose very consistent performances place him in third at 34 points. Austrian Carlo Loo on Happy Island and Swiss Ulli Libor on Sui Generis, follow closely at 38 ad 39 points respectively. First French skipper is Christian Boillot on Tamm Ha Tamm in seventh. Yet, the second and third step of the podium are still there to grab, especially tomorrow when the weather conditions could play an important role, with high winds and rain.