Shifting winds and a tough race course saw Mark Watson and the crew of Tiburon endure a topsy-turvy third day at the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup.

The Bermuda boat had finishes of third, fourth, 13 and 14, and after rising as high as third in the overall rankings ended the day in seventh, exactly where they had started.

Only two more races tomorrow remain in the event, and Watson is looking to go out with a bang.

"We're going to go out put the boat on the start line and try and win," he said on his way back into the dock after yesterday's last race.

"We got very close, we were as competitive today as at any time as we have been in the regatta, and we are going out there to try and win tomorrow."

At seventh overall, Watson and crew will certainly harbour hopes of getting into the top four, and but for some ill wind, might have been in with a chance of doing even better.

"It was another interesting day," said Watson

"You look at the results of the first two races and we were at the front of the pack, all the way around the race courses in both of those races, we had very good starts, and were able to carry that around the race course.

"We started off the day very well, but as the day went on the wind became a lot more shifty on the race course, and depending on where you were the wind was either heading one way or the other.

"It was hard to tell if you were in phase with the shifts, or not, and so it was almost a role of the dice to figure out where to go heading out to the windward leg of the race course in race three and race four.

"We had very good boat handling today, all four of our starts were very good today, so were really clicking well as a team, but it was really, really shifty conditions and so sometimes, the best boat handling in the world isn't going to get you around the race course.

"Having said that we had two really strong finishes in two of the four races today.

"I'm pleased with how we did today, when you have such a challenging race course it's always tough, a lot of effort went into the race course today."

If the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club entry is to have any hope of finishing in the top four then they are going to have to overcome the boats who have dominated proceedings so far.

Among those teams dominating the top five is the New York Yacht Club, which maintained its lead after yesterday's four races on Narragansett Bay where the winds, seemingly in sync with the rhythms of the regatta, moderated to 10-12 knots under brilliantly sunny skies.

We're striving for consistency," said NYYC skipper Phil Lotz, who scored a victory today, for the first time in nine races. "It's tough sailing out there, lots of shifts. We've been back in the pack plenty, and we've just tried to dig out and finish in the top third, that's been the game plan."

Lotz explained that when his team has had a less than a stellar start, other teams have been quick to jump on him, and it has been "hard to dig back."

With two third-place finishes and a tenth to round things out today, the New York Yacht Club has 39 overall points to the 52 carried by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club team, skippered by Terry McLaughlin.

After that 13-point spread comes only a four-point spread between the Canadians and the Japan Sailing Federation, with Makoto Uematsu at the helm.

When asked if the New York Yacht Club's lead was insurmountable, McLaughlin said, "If Phil comes out top five or top seven in the race tomorrow morning to start off with, then he's looking pretty good. If he keeps a lobster pot on his keel slightly longer than he did today, that may be where the rest of us will have a chance."

Lotz said he snagged a lobster pot three minutes before the last start and just got off the line at half speed when the gun went off. The fleet also had to heed a tanker here and there throughout the day, but found the benefits of sailing in relatively flat water preferable to sailing in the open ocean, which ¿ but for the conditions this week that have ruled it out — is the Race Committee's usual first choice for setting courses.

The St. Francis Yacht Club team, sitting in fourth, has a chance to make a play for the top spot tomorrow, but they will have to dig deep, since their point score is 64, and only two races are set for today.