Sailing:A sixth and seventh in yesterday's opening day of the Breitling MedCup finale at Hyeres on the French Riviera brought Eamon Conneely's Patches within three points of the overall series podium, writes David Branigan.

But as third-placed Bribon slips under pressure, the Galway yacht is under pressure from Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine and desperately needs to begin scoring top-three race results as well as the long overdue race win that has proven so elusive since being launched in June.

Overall, Russell Coutts on Sweden's Artemis has broken his tie for first overall with Caixa Gallicia, but with John Kostecki as tactician, the Spanish entry is still well within contention.