On the penultimate day of competition, the crowds gathered on Sylt's iconic golden sands witnessed two full rounds of spectacular racing throughout the afternoon, and saw two new race winners emerge from the mist.

The gusty offshore breeze once again proved tough for the world's top ranked racers to tame, but with the help of a few caddies, and some patience from the race crew, everyone had a fair chance of choosing the right gear to match the conditions they were dealt during their heat. With gusts of twenty-five knots and lulls of fourteen, the wind tested the sailors skills to their maximum, and with a nastier chop than yesterday mistakes were easily made at the marks.

To add to the chaos, during the second race heavy rain moved in, and this coupled with board speeds of over 30 knots and temperatures of around 10 degrees created extremely harsh conditions for the racers to endure, many of whom are used to champagne sailing throughout the rest of the year!

Albeau's Afternoon

After a disappointing previous day - for him - the current world tour leader, Antoine Albeau (JP, NeilPryde) fought back with a vengeance this afternoon to claim a second in the fourth race of the series, and more importantly, a bullet in the fifth to end the afternoon on a high, hoping for much of the same tomorrow.

Albeau's second race final was by far the most impressive, not least because he won, but because he hit the pin end at full speed, and although not the first to cross the line, stamped his authority on the star-studded fleet with tremendous speed that saw him to the first gybe in pole position. From there on it was back to business for the modern day slalom champ, who led the fleet around the course in his usual dominant fashion.

His results from today have helped him to close the gap on event leader, Bjorn Dunkerbeck (Starboard, Severne, Mystic), and two more bullets for the five times world champion could see him steal the show on the final day!

Finian's Final

In the first race of the day Sylt's many spectators saw a new character claiming line honours in the form of 2009 overall rankings runner up, Finian Maynard (RRD, Gaastra). Following a successful second day of racing yesterday, having enlisted the help of British Wave Champion and RRD team manger, John Skye (RRD, MFC) for a small fee, the Irish blooded British Virgin Island resident shot right up the rankings. Maynard's caddy commented, "My boss has done an amazing job on the water today, but I'd have to say some of that success is clearly down to the team behind him (me). Just look at the results, I've helped him go from 30^thto 3^rdin the space of two days!" Maynard replied, "John's help has been invaluable over these past two days, but he really needs to work on his slalom technique!"