After the weather had frustrated the sailors on Monday, the wind finally picked up on Tuesday - reaching 18 knots at times - meaning a large chunk of the scheduled races were able to be completed.
And when the action finally resumed, it was Buhl who made his move in the Laser class.
The German continued his recovery from a disappointing start to the regatta with back-to-back wins in races six and seven.
Having come from third to claim the spoils in the first race of the day, he made up even more ground in the second.
Buhl was back in sixth at the first marker, but steered a superb second half of the race to overtake long-time leader Charlie Buckingham of the United States and edge home by 14 seconds.
Nick Thompson of Great Britain followed up eighth with a third-place finish in race two, but it was a poor day for the overall leaders, as Australian Tom Burton could only finish fourth and then 16th, while Dutchman Nicholas Heiner had a pair of 12th places.
Buhl is now 15 points adrift in the overall standings, but will carry the momentum into Wednesday's racing.
Meanwhile, in the Laser Radial, Marit Bouwmeester led from the second marker as she claimed a narrow win.
The Dutchwoman now heads the standings from Veronika Kozelska Fenclova, while Evi Van Acker's second-place finish moved the Belgian up to fifth overall.
Olympic silver medalists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark of Great Britain established an early advantage in the women's 470 with a strong showing on day five.
The pair followed up their second place on Sunday with a bullet - the sailing term for a race win - to claim race three in the yellow fleet, edging China's Shasha Chen and Haiyan Gao into second, while fellow Brits Christina Baasadone and Ailidh McIntryre were third.
Race four followed a similar pattern, with British boats again in contention before Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol of Slovenia took the win.
Mills and Clarke held on for third and the overall lead in the class, with 2013 world championship runners-up Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar of Austria their closest challengers after first and fifth-place finishes in the blue fleet.
The Men's 470 is headed by Nicolas Charbonnier and Achille Nebout-Javal, who overcame a disappointing 17th place in race two to claim fourth in race three.
A tight battle is expected in the Finn class, but with the second race postponed, Australian Oliver Tweddell and Britain's Giles Scott established the early advantage with respective wins in the yellow and blue fleets.
The Nacra 17 also got under way on Tuesday, with Billy Besson and Marie Riou of France claiming a double bullet to build a commanding early lead.
Meanwhile, Piotr Myszka from Poland and France's Pierre le Coq took race victories as qualification concluded in the windusrfer RS:X.
Myszka took advantage of strong downwind gusts to edge ahead of Thomas Goyard and Julien Bontemps in the yellow fleet, while Le Coq made up ground on early leader JP Tobin to take the honours in the blue race.
The fleet will now split again ahead of the medal races, while the action is also hotting up in the 49er and 49erFX classes.
Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen of Denmark hold the early advantage in the women's competition after following up a race-one victory with second in race two, while the men's pacesetters are
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand.
