After three days of Grand Prix racing, Realteam Spirit have produced a remarkably consistent run of podium finishes to build a nine-point lead and secure victory at the TF35 Mailly event with a day still to spare.

“We’ve got a great team. Everyone on board worked really well because you have to be incredibly reactive when changing modes and during manoeuvres this week,” explained tactician Sébastien Col. “We didn’t get everything right, but we were still a little surprised at the end of the day to see that it had been difficult for everyone. So we’re pretty pleased.”

Day three on Lake Geneva brought another set of conditions for the fleet to master, with 14 knots of shifting breeze, bright sunshine and flat water producing five fast and closely fought races.

The principal difficulty was the nature of the racecourse itself. The sailors described it as ‘sheared’, with the wind direction changing significantly over relatively short distances across the lake.

“Sometimes the gusts would remain pinned to one side of the lake rather than spreading into the middle, while at other times they would move across the course,” Col said. “So it wasn’t simply a question of identifying where the best pressure was geographically; we also had to read how that pressure was moving across the water. And that wasn’t easy.”

Sails of Change 8 began the day in second and made an immediate challenge for the lead. Yann Guichard and his crew picked their way through the shifts to finish second in each of the opening two races, cutting Realteam Spirit’s advantage to just two points.

Their challenge, however, faded as the day progressed. A sixth followed by a fifth dropped them out of contention for the overall win.

“We had two good opening races and were pretty pleased,” said tactician Noé Delpech. “In the third race, there were a few tactical mistakes, particularly on the first upwind leg. Then, in the next two races, the wind was more difficult and it was a bit of everything. We all made small mistakes, we were a little less sharp off the starts, there were a few minor technical errors and some small communication mistakes, but nothing major.”

The final race proved particularly frustrating.

“We saw ourselves virtually leading with Zen Too, with quite a big advantage and almost at the windward mark. We thought we were going to be on the laylines and cross in front of them, but in the end things became more complicated. The wind had other ideas: we got hit by the 30-degree header we weren’t expecting. Things got difficult from there and the gennaker didn’t unfurl. So, yes, it was a multitude of small things.”

Zen Too remains in third overall with the most consistent scorecard of the day behind the runaway winners. Rather than relying on a standout result, they stayed firmly in the chasing pack throughout, posting a 4-4-3-3-3 sequence to avoid the kind of deep score that proved costly.

For the host team Ylliam 17, 39 points leaves them fourth overall, with the podium still within reach. But helm Julien Firmenich admitted that the day had been far from straightforward.

“We got off to a good start and had two good races in conditions that were a little more stable. The boat was better tuned than yesterday and we felt we had less of a speed deficit. But the second half of the day was difficult; we struggled in the big shifts.”

X-Wing remain fifth overall after an otherwise expensive day was rescued a first in Race 10  and  second in Race 11 keeping them in touch with the teams ahead.

Sails of Change 10, meanwhile, finally found their form. Two victories in the final two races of the day lifted them to sixth overall, ahead of Ylliam XII – Comptoir Immobilier in seventh.

“It was a really hard start to the regatta for us. Yesterday was a horrible day,” said Sails of Change 10 tactician Julien d’Ortoli after their second win. “The first race today was not so good, but then, bit by bit, we increased the level and managed to win the last two races. That was quite awesome because the wind was really shifty. Maybe we were a bit lucky too, but I’m really happy to end the day like this.”

The fleet will leave the traditional windward-leeward format behind for the final day, with a long-distance race set to bring the Mailly Grand Prix to a close. A gate will be positioned in Mailly and another close to La Promentoux, with the teams racing for three hours or until 1500, depending on how light the forecast conditions prove to be.

With the overall victory already decided, the final day will instead provide the fleet with a very different test – and one last opportunity to settle the remaining places on the podium.