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Racing in the Tornado is being dictated by Russians Andrey KIRILYUK and Valery USHKOV, who are leading by two points over their British rivals Hugh STYLES and Graham VIALS. Germany's four times Olympian and bronze medallist in 2000, Roland GAEBLER fought hard to not loose the contact to the top of the leaderboard. His crew Gunnar STRUCKMANN said, 'We needed to pay attention every single moment. There were ladders and snakes everywhere and all the time.' Currently the pair lie third, four points behind STYLES and VIALS.

2000 Olympic gold medallist in the Mistral Christoph SIEBER (AUT) is competing with crew Clemens KRUSE in the 49er. The pair took an early lead which then evaporated when German newcomers Thomas REIN and Patrick BOEHMER scored three bullets in a row. They hold an eight point lead over SIEBER and KRUSE with Martin LEWIS and Oliver LEWIS (GER) in third.

Annina WAGNER and Anneli HARTMANN (GER) lead in the open 470 fleet after three bullets from five races, whilst Alexander SCHLONSKI (GER) has four bullets and the lead in the Laser.

The long offshore race of the international German offshore championships was over at yesterday at midday, but the jury was still in a hearing late last night after several protests were filed.

It was the IMS I class keeping the judges busy. At 2100 local time yesterday it was still uncertain weather Norwegian entry Al Cap One III helmed by Peer MOBERG from Oslo would be the winner as calculated by the taken finishing times.

The new Scandinavian Grand Soleigh 42 Racing with Europe ace MOBERG on the wheel, had beaten the Rodman 42 Hanseatic Lloyd owned by Bremen-based businessman Christian PLUMP (GER) by a margin of eight seconds. However it was Horst MANN's (GER) third placed LV 42 L+M Hispaniola who left the final results in the IMS I class open for quite a while. 'The government buoy nominated for the finish line was wrong. And we had trouble at night when a gate boat was not in place when we approached it,' explained tactician Thomas JUNGBLUT from Hamburg.

Whilst the IMS I sailors were still waiting for the last decisions the others were already celebrating. Top scorer in both IMS II and III/IV were the winners of last year's championship. The Dehler 39 Lollipop of Jan HINRICHS (GER) took not only line honours but also the victory on corrected time. Flensburg based brothers Lars and Sven CHRISTENSEN raced well on their X-332 No Limits showing the chasing pack nothing more than their stern.

In the 5005 favourites Howald HAMLIN and Cam LEWIS (USA) scored a bullet in race six but had struggled before then. They lie fourth overall, twelve points behind Wolfgang HUNGER and Holger JESS (GER). The two times World Champions were not at their best but did enough to extent their lead over locals Claas LEHMANN and Martin SCHÖLER by two points. 'It was very tricky today with wind shifts of 40 degrees,' explained HUNGER, 'therefore you also need some luck.'