THE GBR1 team led the way as the Blind Match Racing World Championship reached the knockout stages in the waters off Helensburgh.

Teams from Great Britain, the USA, Australia and Canada are competing all this week in the event, being hosted by the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club in Rhu and being held in the UK for the first time.

The semi-finals take place on Thursday, with the 'petit finals' and main finals being held on Friday.

The second and third days of round-robin competition followed a similar pattern, with very little wind early in the day before speeds picked up in the afternoon.

Six races were completed on Wednesday, completing the second round-robin phase of the competition.

The GBR1 crew led by Sharon Grennan finished top of the heap in both phases, with Sally Rodrigues' GBR2 team – including the RNCYC's very own Laura Cammidge – in second place.

After the end of the third day's action, umpire Niall McLeod said: “It was a good day and I was impressed with how all the teams handled the breeze, especially in the last race with tricky, gusty conditions.

“Close quarters racing at times made the racing interesting and the standard of racing has definitely improved over the course of the week.”