LIGHT and shifting winds coupled with thunderstorms upset the schedule on the third day of the ISAF World Championships in Santander yesterday, as the 470 classes began their first day of World Championship racing.

The 470 women and RS:X women’s fleets did manage to complete their planned two races each, but the Laser, Laser Radial and 470 men’s classes fell behind with just one race possible in the testing conditions.

Weymouth’s defending champion Nick Dempsey took the initiative in his two races on the RS:X windsurfing course, picking up a race win and a fourth to boost him into overall second – the position also occupied by Bryony Shaw in the women’s event after their five races.

For Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, they can be happy with their opening day of the 470 Worlds, picking up scores of 11 and two on what they described as a ‘tricky day’.

Portland’s Luke Patience and Elliot Willis endured a frustrating first day in the 470 division, with race course issues, abandonments and general recalls on the restarts before finally finishing 12th in their only race of the day.

“It was a frustrating day because they were such poor races,” Patience said. “But that being said, you’ve still got to do what you need to do and it was an okay race for us. Something that we can count but by no means have we fired out of the blocks.”

In the first day of gold fleet racing for the Laser class, Nick Thompson and Lorenzo Chiavarini both enjoyed good outings in their sole race with Thompson up to sixth overall with a sixth from Sunday’s race, while the under-21 world and European champion Chiavarini finished fifth to see him into eighth overall.

Chloe Martin also advanced to eighth after the only race for the Laser Radial gold fleet.

* Both Laser and Laser Radial gold fleets are scheduled for a lay day today while racing continues across all other classes and sees the addition of the Finn, Nacra 17, 49er and 49erFX classes to the programme for the first time.