Ed Wright leads in San Francisco

The power of Britain's strength in depth in the heavyweight Finn singlehander is being demonstrated in San Francisco where Ed Wright leads and Giles Scott is third after three days of racing for the 87-boat fleet.

They are separated by Rafael Trujillo of Spain with Mark Andrew in 10th, Andrew Mills in 12th.

Missing is Ben Ainslie, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, who is skippering his Origin match racing team in St. Moritz, Switzerland. But, although already assured of a quarter-final place with a day to spare, his 6-2 win-loss record is bettered by the 2007 and 2008 world champion Ian Williams, whose GAC Pindar team has a 7-1 scoreline.

In Hayling Island, the 159 boats contesting the Laser World Championship splits into gold and silver divisions on Friday with Australia's Tom Slingsby in the lead by 14 points from the defending and Olympic champion Paul Goodison.

Jonny Malbon and crew have won the 1,800-mile Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race on handicap in the Open 60 Artemis. “We pushed and pushed like I have never pushed a boat before,” he said in Cowes after the anticlockwise rounding.