LIGHT and testing sea breeze conditions saw some leaderboard changes on day three of the Sailing World Cup competition in Hyeres on Friday, with British crews in five podium positions with two days of racing to go.

The racing programme suffered weather disruptions for a second day, with some classes unable to fulfil their schedules and others sailing well into the evening to do so.

Olympic silver and bronze medallist, Weymouth’s Nick Dempsey made the best of his only race of the day in the RS:X Men’s fleet, posting a fifth place to see him take the overall lead.

Bryony Shaw remains in second in the women’s windsurfing fleet, picking up a 12th in her sole race yesterday.

Today will see the final day of competition for the Paralympic classes, and London 2012 gold medallist Helena Lucas celebrated her birthday by improving her overall standing to second in the 2.4mR fleet with two races to go.

Lucas has two races remaining at the event, and heads into her final day just two points behind Australian leader Matt Bugg, and with Norway’s Bjornar Erikstad and France’s Damien Seguin just a point behind her in third and fourth.

In the Sonar fleet, overnight leaders John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas dropped to third with 3,7,8 in their outings yesterday.

Today will also see the final opportunities for sailors to qualify for the top ten medal race spots on Sunday in the Olympic classes.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark remain firmly in the hunt in the 470 Women’s event, in second overall just a point behind the Brazilian crew, while teammates Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre are also eying a medal race berth, currently in ninth.

In the 470 Men’s fleet, Luke Patience and Chris Grube were happy to bounce back with an eighth, after a big points day on Thursday, where they picked up a black flag disqualification and a 26th.

Elsewhere, Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves are well placed in fourth in the Nacra 17 fleet, Alison Young is fifth in the Laser Radial class and Nick Thompson is in seventh in the Laser event.

In the 49er class, James Peters-Fynn Sterritt are in fifth, John Pink-Stuart Bithell are sixth and Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign are looking to advance into the top ten in their four scheduled races. They are currently 11th.