A perfect opening set of five wins in his opening five races put Ian Williams and his Team GAC Pindar in a strong position for crossing the first hurdle of a place in the quarter finals of the Monsoon Cup in Malaya.

In a major shake-up at the Swedish-backed America’s Cup challenger Artemis skipper Terry Hutchinson has been “released” and British triple Olympic medallist Iain Percy has been made sailing team director.

Cutting corners can often come at a price and the cost for the 13 remaining Vendée Globe singlehanders could be a shake-up at the top as the leaders start the next phase and the fourth week.

Spying is set to spark new battle lines in the America’s Cup as tempers fray on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. At odds are the €90m Italian team Luna Rossa, backed by the Prada luxury goods house, and the San Francisco-based, Lord knows how many millions Oracle team, holders of the cup and backed by computer software billionaire Larry Ellison.

Britain’s Mike Golding is among seven Vendée Globe skippers given time penalties for sailing into the traffic separation lane off Finisterre, but his penalty is just 30 minutes.

The demolition derby aspect of the Vendée Globe round the world race continued to dominate coverage on Sunday as the fifth of the 20 starters limped off the racecourse and a sixth sought to fix a problem which could also force him to retire.

A slew of penalty flags is waving around the Vendée Globe fleet of singlehanders racing non-stop round the world.

Samantha Davies was dismasted 130 miles north-west of Madeira on the sixth day of the Vendée Globe singlehanded non-stop round the world race making her the third person to be forced out.

Kito de Pavant became the second to retire from the Vendée Globe singlehanded non-stop round the world race in the opening 48 hours after colliding with a fishing trawler 45 miles off the coast of Portugal. It was the second time he has been forced to withdraw from a race notorious for the rate of attrition.

People power kicked the decision to drop windsurfers from the Olympic sailing line-up into the oblivion of history as rank and file national representatives voted against the council members of the International Sailing Federation at its annual general meeting in Dublin.