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Despite the challenges race wins went to Alegre, Noticia IV and Bigamist, while José Manuel Caldeira's Uon added a 2-5-2 and occupies top position with 13 points.

The first race started at 13:35 with an 8 knot breeze at 140°. The first to cross the finish line was Andrés Soriano's Alegre. The crew on Alegre took the lead at the beginning of the race and held it throughout. Alegre was followed by Uon and Tony Buckingham's Ngoni.

Alegre's tactician is Robert Greenhalgh, who is also a Volvo Ocean Race and Extreme 40 series winner, explained the day, "It's very tight racing over there, it's a very competitive fleet and there's a lot to be set to have a good start, concentrate on the boat speed and the left side of the track which generally favoured all day. Today we did better than yesterday, yesterday we were struggling with the boat speed, today we were a lot more quicker."

The next race started with a 13 knot breeze at 115°. Luis Martín Cabiedes' Noticia IV started as the leader of the fleet, followed by the Chile's Santander, property of Jorge Araneda, and Pedro Mendonça's Bigamist, while Glen Ellen XXII, Alegre and Earlybird were OCS and had to go back to the start line to clear their penalty.

The positions from the start remained through to the first mark and Noticia IV crossed the finish line in first position, followed by Santander. Third position changed at the third mark, when Ngoni managed to overcome Bigamist and Ngoni held on to take third.

Laureano Wizner, Noticia IV's tactician, described day, "From the beginning the day was awesome, the wind was always increasing, in the next leg we always received more wind and the last race was the best for us. We started well from the beginning and we managed to take the lead. Once ahead the speeds are so equal that if we don't make any mistake, we end top position, and basically that's what happened in the first race".

The last race of the day started at 16:10 with an increasing wind that reached 18 knots. Santander started well and led the fleet but then, due to a bad manoeuvre, the Portuguese boats Bigamist and Uon overcame Santander to finish in first and second position, respectively. The Chilean boat finished third, moving from seventh to fifth on the leader board.

After five races, Uon is in top position with 13 points and boat owner José Manuel Caldeira commented, "We are going faster and putting ourselves where we have to be, in the reach in all races we are improving the run when we feel we are not that good. Generally, the results are down to team work. But the situation in the race area is going well. Our expectation is to keep this, keep doing what we are doing which is doing the best." The British boat Ngoni is two points behind Uon whilst Bigamist completes the podium on 19 points.

The 2014 Soto 40 World CHampionship is being held at the Marina Real Juan Carlos I (Valencia, Spain) and it will last until July 12th. There are five more races planned for the regatta, all scheduled at 13:00 (CEST). You'll be able to follow races live by clicking on the links available at http://www.soto40.org/soto40worlds