Racing at The MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM kicked off in Dartmouth on Tuesday.

The World Championship is being co-hosted by the Britannia Yacht Club and the Royal Dart Yacht Club.

Principal race officer Mike Pearson held the crews of the seventy-six competing teams ashore for a postponement of just over two hours in order to wait for the breeze to fill in and settle.

Light airs meant that only one race of the three scheduled for today was raced but the fleet returned to the Regatta Centre happy to have completed the first race of the eleven scheduled for the World Championship series.

 Out in the race area in Start Bay the breeze eventually filled in to a very tricky four to six knots from 180 to 190 degrees and a windward-leeward course was set.

Keen to get going, competitors pushed the line on the first start resulting in a general recall and the PRO immediately deployed the black flag and at the next start all boats got away cleanly.

Crews from nine nations are racing in Dartmouth and today it was Frenchman Patrick Bot sailing Ecole Navale CG29, who took the win in the opening race of the championships. 

All in all it was a good day on the water for British teams with five GBR sail numbers in the top ten at the end of day one.

Dartmouth was blessed with blue skies, sunshine and just a little more breeze on Wednesday for the second day of racing.

Four races were sailed in six to nine knots of breeze oscillating through the day. As the crews came ashore after racing it was clear that the fleet were delighted to have enjoyed really top flight competition, albeit the day's sport had been both physically and mentally challenging.

By the end of day two, the Brits in the top five had dropped to two, although Dartmouth's very own Team Baltic had a stunning start to the day, finishing second in the first race, a sensational achievement.

The top placed British boat is Kevin Sproul's J.A.T. and this crew currently sits in third place on the leader-board.

The Regatta HQ for the MIQ Logistics 2012 J/80 World Championship Powered by SLAM will be open to the public for the duration of the regatta and those who would like to watch the racing in Start Bay will be able to do so from the beaches around Dartmouth.

The positions at the end of the day on Wednesday were as follows:

1) [ESP] Jose Maria Van Der Ploeg; 2) [ESP] Javier Aguado; 3) [GBR] Kevin Sproul; 4) [ESP] Rayco Tabares; 5) [GBR] Simon Ling/Ian Southworth; 6) [GBR] Robert Larke; 7) [FRA] Laurent Sambron; 8) [FRA] Patrick Bot; 9) [ESP] Ignacio Camino Rodriguez; 10) [FRA] Eric Brezellec; 11) [ESP] Emilio Azofra Alcazar; 12) [GBR] Simon Johnson/Ruairidh Scott; 13) [GER] Bjorn Beilken; 14) [GBR] Nick & Annie Haigh/Geoff Carveth; 15) [FRA] Simon Moriceau; 16) [FRA] Maxime Rousseaux/; 17) [FRA] Sebastien Petithuguenin; 18) [ESP] Carlos Martinez; 19) [GBR] Steward Hawthorn; 20) [FRA] Alexis Henri; 21) [GBR] Scott Cole; 22) [FRA] Luc Nadal; 23) [GER] Sven Vagt; 24) [GBR] Henri Bomby/Team Baltic; 25) [FRA] Simon Benaichouche.