Strange things are known to occur on Halloween.But there was nothing strange about Penny Simmons' dominant display on day two of the 2012 IOD World Championship in the Great Sound yesterday.In fact, it was nothing shy of pure genius.The Hall of Fame sailor stepped up the hunt for a seventh IOD World title, scoring two bullets to take sole possession of first place after four races.Sailing in shifty 15-20 knot breezes, Simmons showed just why is a legend in his own right on a challenging day of competition which saw the race committee alter the racecourse twice and one boat retire with mild damage.The veteran skipper sailed the right lines at both ends of the course and always seemed to find that cutting edge when it mattered most.Simmons began yesterday third in the points standings but quickly moved up to second after posting his first bullet of the regatta in the third race.The six-time world champion came from the back of the fleet to round the top mark in second, snatched the lead for good on the first run to leeward and was able to stretch his lead over the remaining legs to win by a landslide.Simmons also came from behind in the second race which proved to be a much closer contest between himself, two-time defending champion Elliott Wislar and Long Island Sound fleet stablemate Tim Heckscher.After working hard to get to the front of the pack, the local skipper surrendered a healthy lead heading to the final weather mark as Wislar and Heckscher found more pressure further on the favoured right side of the course.“He (Simmons) was probably ten boat lengths ahead of us and we reeled him in,” Wislar said. “It was one of those legs that you wish you could do every day and at that stage we thought we had the race in the bag.”However, Simmons regained the lead on the next leg as Wislar and Heckscher's decision to gybe on port and sail on the left side of the course backfired.The veteran skipper was then able to sit on top of the chasing duo heading back to the upwind finish to claim a second bullet of the day.“The wind was to our liking and we managed to get the boat tuned and picked the right sides,” was the way Simmons summed up the day's racing. “The crew worked well and did a good job up and downwind and it all came together.”Simmons and team mates Matthew Cairney, Steve Mohr, D'Arcey Betschart and Steven King currently hold a four-point lead at the top of the leader board over nearest rival Wislar.The American, who is biding to become the second skipper behind Bermuda's Peter Bromby to win three consecutive IOD World titles, posted a third and second yesterday to climb two places from fourth to second in the 13-boat fleet.But he also found yesterday's conditions challenging, particularly sailing downwind.“The tough downwind legs really taxed the crew a lot and the boats were really rocking and rolling,” he said.In third is day one leaders Bill Widnall and Matt Lindblad (Marblehead fleet) who fell off the pace after posting a tenth and ninth yesterday.Also slipping down the leader board was Nantucket fleet's Ian McNeice who fell from second to fourth. McNeice began the day on a high after finishing second in the third race but was forced to retire (14th) in the fourth after his tiller broke and the extension came away.McNeice was granted Redress and his score for race four will be determined on average points following the last race.Rick Thompson (Chester, Nova Scotia fleet), the only other local skipper at this year's IOD Worlds, is currently ninth overall.