Ukrainian Evgenii Braslavets, crewed by Sergey Pugachev, Sergey Timokhov and Oleksandr Myrchuk, claimed the golden ticket which will allow him to leapfrog past the Quarter and Semi Finals straight through to the Finals.
The new Dragon regatta format calls for a first round of four qualifying fleet races for all 20 competitors on day one.
The overall top ten boats then progress into day two when Quarter, Semi and Final races will decide the ultimate winner.
To add an extra frisson to proceedings, the leading boat at the end of the qualifying round gets a bye into the Final and the second place boat a bye into the Semi-Final.
Braslavets opened with a very disappointing 14th then rallied with a second and third, but going into the last race he was still below the qualification point.
Drawing on all his knowledge and experience as a multiple Dragon class champion and Olympic 470 Gold Medallist he dug deep and reminded everyone of exactly why he is one of the most respected and successful competitors in the class.
Going into that final race Germany’s Nicola Friesen, held a single point lead over the fleet. A seventh place secured her second overall and also allowed her to claim the silver ticket of a bye into the Semi Final round.
Portugal’s Pedro Andrade, Russia’s Dmitry Samokhin, Dutchman Pieter Heerema, the UK’s Grant Gordon, Switzerland’s Hugo Stenbeck, Australia’s Peter Gilmour, Sweden’s Martin Palsson and Russia’s Anatoly Loginov are the additional eight sailors who go forward to compete in Saturday morning’s Quarter Final race.
Five teams will then join Friesen for the Semi Final, and the top three teams from that race will progress into the Final to challenge Braslavets.