Louis BROWNE's British entry Asterix captured the lead in a light air opening day at the ninth Mumm 30 World Championship. Racing started in the early afternoon after a long postponement ashore. The Mumm 30s were fast around the course on flat water in a five to ten knot westerly breeze in the Gulf of Morbihan.

Despite the late start, three windward-leeward races were completed and boats were back at the dock by 1900 hours local time. A counter current across the startline, an I-flag and no throw-outs for the series helped control the fleet. There were some OCS calls in the second start, but no general recalls for the 40 boats that are competing.

Asterix holds a strong position, with the same crew that won the Spi Ouest regatta here over Easter weekend. They know the local conditions, but will continue to face tough competition from a very strong fleet. There were three different race winners, as is typical with the Class, but consistency, not bullets will win the day as shown by the Brits. Michele and Gianluca PERRIS' entry from Monaco with Italian Paolo CIAN calling tactics won the first race after taking the lead from Oui halfway around the course. Famous Tour de France a la Voile sailor Jimmy PAHUN got the finish line gun in the second race, but inconsistent finishes for the rest of the day put his French team 29 overall.

Pierre Loic BERT on Bouyges Telecom was the final race winner of the day and is in second overall. They have match racer Mattieu RICHARD (FRA) on tactics.

Other contenders for the regatta include Deneen DEMOURKAS from Santa Barbara, California, USA. Her tactician is New Zealander Hamish PEPPER of America's Cup fame. Groovederci competed in the Tour Voile last year and finished third in that event. Jim RICHARDSON is another American entry. He is new to the class, but has won the very competitive Farr 40 World championship twice. Peter DE RIDDER (NED) is the current Mumm 30 European Champion with his regular crew from the Netherlands, with Kiwi Ray DAVIES calling the shots. While they had a slow start, there are still three more days where anything can happen.

Asterix, heads the leaderboard with a 2,2,3 record after the three races sailed. PERINI, on Foreign Affair, could only manage a 4,18,9 which leaves him eighth overall, over 20 points behind BROWNE. BERTHET's (FRA) bullet in race three lifts him to second, four points behind, whilst PERRIS and DEMOURKAS are close behind in third and fourth.

More light air is expected for the second day of the championship, with another three races planned.

Eleven races are schedule to decide this ninth edition of the World Championship and the winner of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club trophy, with the 40 entries racing through until Saturday. Last year PERINI sailed to victory in Toronto, Canada and back in March the Australian added the Farr 40 World Championship in a desperately close regatta in Sydney, Australia.

Top Ten After Three Races

Pos	Nation	Boat	Skipper	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	GBR	Asterix	Louis BROWNE	2	2	3	7
2	FRA	Bouygues Telecom	Pierre Loic BERTHET	3	7	1	11
3	MON	Dangerous But Fun	Michele PERRIS	1	8	5	14
4	USA	Groovederci	Deneen DEMOURKAS	9	4	2	15
5	FRA	Toulon Provence Mediterranee Coych	Fabien HENRY	5	3	12	20
6	USA	Barking Mad	Jim RICHARDSON	6	6	12	24
7	GBR	Kanati	Charles BARR	7	11	11	29
8	AUS	Foreign Affair	Richard PERINI	4	18	9	31
9	FRA	Tobago	Herve LEDUC	14	5	15	34
10	FRA	Twins 3	Erik MARIS	12	13	10	35