Sailing: Fanstone keeps Aera on top form as Britain

It was business as usual in Class Zero yesterday in the contest for the first of the two most coveted trophies of Skandia Cowes Week, the Britannia Cup.

For the fourth day running, the 55ft Aera, skippered by Jez Fanstone, took the top prize and for the fifth day there was toe-to-toe warfare between the three Farr 52s, Bear of Britain yesterday taking revenge for a 2-0 match-racing defeat the night before at the hands of Andy Beadsworth steering Peter Harrison's Chernikeeff 2. Nick Hewson's Team Tonic, the first of the three earlier on Tuesday, was third yesterday.

Uncertainty with the wind had many classes struggling either to make progress west against the flooding tide or back from the eastern Solent, where it failed to reach the 12 to 14 knots being enjoyed by the Britannia Cup big boys. Many failed to complete the course.