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For the first time all the top sailors sailed two races together in the gold fleet and, as expected, the racing was close and tough with mistakes costly. Good starts were essential as was a good first windward leg.

In an 8 to 10 knot wind the gold fleet got away at the second attempt under a black flag. Peer MOBERG from Norway was leading at the first mark with series leader, Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) buried in 15 position. The leaders went high on the reach whilst Scheidt went low and took 13 boats to get to second before starting the downwind leg. This included his closest rival in the overall points, Michael BLACKBURN (AUS), who started the downwind leg in fifth position. By the end of the downwind and next windward leg Blackburn had pulled up to first ahead of Moberg and Scheidt.

Moberg dropped to third on the second downwind behind Scheidt with Blackburn still in the lead. There was a twist in the end when Blackburn received a yellow flag penalty for a rule 42 infringement from the on water judges and had to do a 720-degree turn. As he did his turns Scheidt passed him, but not for long as Blackburn responded to pass Scheidt again before the last short windward leg to the finish. Behind, Hamish PEPPER (NZL) also passed Moberg on the last reach to finish third.

The wind increased to 13 knots average for the second race. Andreas GERITZER (AUT) started at the pin end and went hard left with Andre STREPPEL (BRA), these two rounded second and first respectively with Geritzer passing Streppel on the reach. Blackburn and Scheidt were playing catch-up in tenth and fifteenth position.

Geritzer extended his lead throughout the race to finish first. Behind him the battle was on for the runner up positions amongst Streppel, Hugh STYLES GBR and Patrick BERGMANNS (BEL). On the second downwind this group had been joined by Scheidt and Blackburn who both had good second windward legs and the group traded places in close racing on the downwind section.

At the mark Blackburn caught a wave and surfed through Streppel, Scheidt, Bergmanns and Mark MENDELBLATT (USA), into second. On the reach Scheidt passed Streppel, as did Mendelblatt. With no further changes on the short windward leg to the finish, the race ended with Blackburn second, Scheidt third and Mendelblatt fourth as each protected their hard earned positons.

With four races to go, the Sydney bronze medallist has reduced the overall lead of the silver medallist by two points and narrowed the margin to four points to set the stage for an exciting final two days.

Overall Top Ten

Pos	Nation	Name	Total	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8
1	BRA	SCHEIDT Robert	14,0	-6	5	1	1	1	1	2	3
2	AUS	BLACKBURN Michael	18,0	3	-6	2	4	5	1	1	2
3	USA	MENDELBLATT Mark	27,0	4	-25	3	1	3	4	8	4
4	NZL	PEPPER Hamish	37,0	1	8	-29	7	2	5	3	11
5	AUT	GERITZER Andreas	38,0	13	3	7	3	9	2	-16	1
6	SWE	SUNESON Karl	52,0	6	16	1	2	9	2	-17	16
7	AUS	SLINGSBY Tom	62,0	11	18	8	(dsq)	7	7	5	6
8	NOR	MOBERG Peer	66,0	12	-26	14	6	4	6	4	20
9	GBR	GOODISON Paul	71,0	(bfd)	14	2	2	12	3	6	32
10	RSA	BLANCKENBERG Gareth	74,0	7	5	5	9	4	15	-36	29