DYLAN Fletcher and Stuart Bithell held on to their 49er World Cup lead in Hyeres, France, on Thursday, on a day where patience was key across the fleets.

Wind conditions built later than anticipated on the third day of competition, and knowing that today’s forecast looks set to bring big breeze and potentially a day confined to shore, sailors and race management alike were eager to eke out the best conditions and complete the day’s schedule.

Fletcher and Bithell started their day in style, adding a fourth race win of the week to their scorecard, and followed up with an eighth and a fourth to keep hold of the yellow jerseys.

They lead the men’s high performance event by a two-point margin over Spain’s Diego Botin and Iago Lopez.

“We attacked the three races as if we had a no discard series. It went really well. We had a solid day, I’m really happy.”

“We were expecting good breeze of 12 knots upwards but that didn’t materialise until later on, so the first race was a bit lighter than expected,” leader Bithell explained.

“I think the (FX) racing was a lot lighter than expected.

“We got three good, solid races in. The race officer did really well and we had a solid day.”

While the boat park chatter was all about conditions being in excess of 30 knots today, Bithell was pragmatic.

“Our sport’s unique in that Mother Nature dictates when we go racing and when we don’t. We’ll prepare like we would normally for a windy day’s racing.”

James Peters and Fynn Sterritt join their British Sailing Team colleagues inside the top-10 spots, currently sitting in eighth place after nine races.

Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey maintained a top three position in the 49erFX fleet after steady 11, 8, 6 in light wind conditions, with Kate Macgregor and Sophie Ainsworth also breaking into the top-10.

In the Finn class, overnight leader Ben Cornish dropped to third overall, in equal points with second, with 16, 10 on the water yesterday. Ed Wright posted 23, 2 to see him in eighth place.

Windsurfer Izzy Hamilton wrapped up her three-race day with a win, which takes her within two points of the podium spots, in fourth overall, with teammate Emma Wilson ninth, while Amy Seabright and Anna Carpenter also drew within touching distance of the top-three spots in the 470 Women’s event.

They posted 3, 7 on the water yesterday to sit fourth overall, with Jess Lavery and Flora Stewart in ninth.

In the Nacra 17 fleet, four British boats are hovering just outside of the medal places, with Tom Phipps and Nikki Boniface in fourth, John Gimson and Anna Burnet fifth, and Ben Saxton and Steph Orton in sixth.

Nick Thompson recovered from a tough first race of three to end the day fifth overall in the Laser event, three points from the bronze medal position.

Alison Young enjoyed her best day of the regatta so far with 10, 5 on the water, elevating her into 16th overall in the Laser Radial class.

Tom Squires picked up to 18th place in the RS:X men’s windsurfing event with the help of two seventh places among his three races, while development 470 duo Martin Wrigley and James Taylor are 26th overall.

No racing was possible in the invitational Formula Kite event, but the 2.4mR class saw two races with Will Street in 11th overall.