After waiting several excruciating hours for the wind to stabilise to allow the race committee to set up the racecourse and then losing ground on the leaderboard, Mark Watson probably figured his day could not get any worse.

Boy, was he wrong.

A blow to the head from the swinging boom while executing a gybe left Watson with a nasty gash that required treatment. The incident occurred at the conclusion of race day three of the Etchells World Championship in Newport, Rhode Island, yesterday as Watson was heading back to shore.

“We were gybing as we were trying to take the mainsail down and the boom came across and hit me in the head while I was ducking,” Watson said.

The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club sailor remained upbeat as he was being treated last night and was also due to undergo x-rays as a precaution.

“I have every intention of being on the racecourse tomorrow morning,” Watson said.

Watson still leads the Bermuda contingent at the championships despite falling three-places down the leaderboard from 19th to 22nd, according to provisional results, after crossing the line in 41st in the sole race sailed in yesterday’s shifty 3-15 knot breezes that kept team’s guessing on the racecourse.

Making up subtle ground on the leaderboard yesterday was Watson’s RBYC stablemate, Tim Patton, whose 61st place finish moved him up one spot from 73rd to 72nd, according to provisional results.

Patton was also exonerated from a protest filed against him for colliding with the race committee the previous day.

Also sailing at the event is Bermuda Olympian Jesse Kirkland as crew aboard American Jane II that climbed six places up the leaderboard from 24th to 18th after finishing eighth yesterday.

Yesterday also saw Bill Hardesty, of United States, regain top spot from Hank Lammens of Canada.

n The trio of Bermuda boats competing in the 49th Newport Bermuda Race are all moored back in local waters.

Dr Stephen Sherwin’s Corby 41.5, Nasty Medicine, and Brian Hillier’s J-125, Crossfire, arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday. And joining them yesterday was the Spirit of Bermuda that crossed the finish line off St David’s Lighthouse in the early hours of the morning.

The triple masted sloop, helmed by captain Karen McDonald, completed the 635-mile race at 1.59am in an elapsed time of 132hr, 59min and 23sec. The sail-training ship is the sole entry in the Spirit of Tradition Division and is making her second straight appearance in the biennial race that started a week ago today in Newport, Rhode Island.

Chartering Spirit for the race was local businessman, Olympian and Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Butterfield who, despite the fickle breezes that made for a slow journey, had an absolute blast.

“It was really great,” said Butterfield, who sailed with his son Spencer. “We knew from weather predictions going in that we would be in very light air — and that is what happened.

“We were hoping for 25-30 knots of breeze because that is what Spirit of Bermuda needs to move her. We were constantly playing with the sails to get every little bit of wind and even if it was four knots we felt pretty darn good about that.

“We are all a bit tired because of the length of the journey and the watch system. But everyone had a really good time.”