With nine to ten knots from 280° the first ever RS:X race in Europe got underway with HUGUET and Tom ASHLEY (NZL) opening up a sizeable lead over the 37-strong blue fleet sailing an ´O´ course. HUGUET won the contest to score the opening bullet of the regatta and reflected, 'I definitely had the option of planing so I tried to have more speed and not pump as much. It was good for the first race because I was fighting with Tom ASHLEY a lot, we were really far in front and then the second race I tried the same, but the wind dropped a bit and there were shifts on the right so it wasn´t as good.' Still ´wasn´t as good´ resulted in a third place, with fellow Frenchman Nicolas LE GAL (FRA) taking the bullet ahead of Spain´s Ivan PASTOR. With the wind dropping throughout the afternoon the final race of the

Nicolas HUGUET scored two bullets today © ISAF

day took place in light conditions, with HUGUET scoring his second bullet ahead of LE GAL to take the overall lead overnight. The Mistral World Champion succinctly summed up his feelings, 'I won two races today so, yeah I´m happy about it and we´ll see what happens tomorrow.'

In the red fleet, Nick DEMPSEY (GBR) scored an impressive opening win, building on a solid start in winds just under ten knots, 'The first race was right on the edge of planing or not planing,' he explained, 'so I knew that as long as we could get planing most of the way up the first beat we´d be looking quite good, and that´s pretty much what we did. I planed three-quarters of the way up that first beat, got quite a nice position on the fleet and then just consolidated that.' That start left DEMPSEY upfront along with Max WOJCIK (POL), with the Brit getting the best of their tussle to take first place. However it was WOJCIK who finished the day the stronger, with a bullet in the day´s final race leaving him second overall, just a point behind HUGUET. The day´s other race went to Fabrice HASSEN (FRA) ahead of Joeri VAN DIJK (NED) and WOJCIK.

Faustine MERRET chasing Flavia TARTAGLINI in race one © ISAF

In the women´s fleet two races were completed, with Olympic Champion Faustine MERRET (FRA) completing a fantastic day for the French windsurfers, after two third places left her leading overall. Flavia TARTAGLINI (ITA) scored an excellent win over Mistral and Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Champion Blanca MANCHON (ESP) in race one and a sixth in race two sees her just a point behind the Olympic Champion in second. She explained that initially she was a little sceptical about the new equipment but says with time it has grown on her, 'It was just the first day, but it was very good. I like the board, at the beginning no, but now after one month of training I like it.'

Great Britain´s Bryony SHAW (GBR) matched her team mate DEMPSEY by scoring a bullet in the day´s second race, leaving her tied on eight points with the Ukraine´s Olga MASLIVETS. In a world class international top ten, featuring Olympic, World, ISAF World Sailing and Youth World Champion, sailors from nine different nations are challenging for the top honours.

The RS:X fleet heads out for their first racing in Europe © ISAF

Three more races for both the men and women are scheduled for tomorrow, with the first warning signal at 1300 hours local time with www.sailing.org continuing to bring you all of the latest updates from Cadiz.

Top Ten Men After Three Races

Pos	Nation	Last name	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	FRA	Nicolas HUGUET	1	3	1	5
2	POL	Max WOJCIK	2	3	1	6
3	FRA	Nicolas LE GAL	4	1	2	7
4	NED	Joeri VAN DIJK	3	2	2	7
5	GBR	Nick DEMPSEY	1	10	7	18
6	ITA	Federico ESPOSITO	3	4	13	20
7	ITA	Dario BAFFETTI	9	5	6	20
8	GBR	Leo MCCALLIN	6	11	4	21
9	FRA	Antoine CORDONNIER	11	5	7	23
10	FRA	Fabrice HASSEN	10	1	13	24

Top Ten Women After Two Races

Pos	Nation	Last name	R1	R2	Pts
1	FRA	Faustine MERRET	3	3	6
2	ITA	Flavia TARTAGLINI	1	6	7
3	GBR	Bryony SHAW	7	1	8
4	UKR	Olga MASLIVETS	4	4	8
5	GER	Amelie LUX	10	2	12
6	ESP	Blanca MANCHON	2	11	13
7	POl	Zofia KLEPACKA	9	5	14
8	BUL	Irina KONSTANTINOVA	5	10	15
9	ISR	Lee KORSITS	12	7	19
10	FRA	Pauline PERRIN	11	9	20