Gulf News, Dubai: A mere nine points separate the top nine teams in the provisional ranking at the end of the first day of fleet racing, with Pieter Heerema's No Way Back leading Igor Lah's Ceeref by a point at the RC44 Copenhagen Cup, on Friday.

Chasing down the top two was Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis as they lay in third place separated by two points on a day of varying weather conditions.

Eventually it was the uneven conditions that reflected the uneven results, with the owner of Katusha, Guennadi Timtchenko, managing to win the first-ever regatta in his life.

Timtchenko only started sailing last month during the RC 44 Austria Cup, and experienced teams such as BMW Oracle Racing or Team Aqua struggling to be consistent.

Thanks to two race victories and a fourth place, and despite the first race's disappointment, Pieter Heerema and his team No way Back were the event's provisional leaders.

They were however far from being in a safe spot, with two more days of racing and up to eight more races to complete.

Team Sea Dubai had to stay content in sixth after four fleet races with four points separating them from leaders No Way Back.But with another eight races scheduled to complete the regatta there is all likelihood of constant changing positions in choppy seas, strong currents and erratic wind patterns.

"Today was my first time to helm the RC 44 in the open sea and there was something to learn from this experience," said Sea Dubai skipper Harm Muller Spreer.

"This area is also quite different and it is difficult to see whether to take the left or right to get better pressure and in the last race our start was absolutely perfect but we chose the wrong side and lost valuable places.

"It was fantastic racing though."

Results

Fleet race, provisional results after four races (ranking, name of team, helmsman, results, points): 1. Team No Way Back, Pieter Heerema, 10, 1, 4, 1 (16 points); 2. Ceeref, Igor Lah, 5, 2, 7, 3 (17); 3. Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist, 3, 5, 8, 2 (18); 4. Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 2, 3, 9, 5 (19); 5. BMW Oracle Racing, Larry Ellison, 8, 6, 2, 4 - (20); 6. Team Sea Dubai, Harm Muller Spreer, 7, 4, 3, 6 (20); 7. Katusha, Guennadi Timtchenko, 6, 8, 1, 8 (23); 8. 17, Anders Myralf 4, 7, 6, 7 (24); 9. Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Daniel Calero, 1, 10, 5, 9 (25); 10. Team Austria, René Mangold, 9, 9, 10, 10 (38).