Day 4 - 'twas ever so...

Definitely no tornado here...USA gets towed back to base (photo: AP).

Paul Goodison took the lead after Race 4, with Rasmus from Sweden hot on his...erm, transom after they finished 1-2. But it is Diego Romero who retains the advantage once the discard is applied. He and Lima were the most consistent (consistently good, anway) until today, and they would move back up to 1st and 2nd with the discard, while Rasmus and Paul would switch into 3rd and 4th. Which raises an interesting question, given the unreliability of the wind: how many races do they need to complete before the discard kicks in?

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The person I feel most sorry for is Tom Slingsby...he has been on of the world for the last 18 months or so and to be consistently out of the runnings must be soul-destroying. One Aussie coach noted that it was probably time for him to have a big night out (http://sailjuice.squarespace.com/) certainly is what I would do!

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Peter made his first negative comment about the venue in his Update today, and I can sense the frustration in most info coming out of Qinqdao. Yet this is not the first time the conditions for the Olymic Regatta have been horrible; I remember Sunny (LTU) telling about the racing in Athens, where the trapezoid was ditched one day because the wind was just too variable. Instead they did windward/leewards, going around five times! It was hard enough trying to keep count, but the RC was constantly moving the windward mark to accommodate the wind, making it a nightmare.

However, I think that if you look at the top venues in Europe, many would struggle to make the top 50...sometimes. I have sat becalmed in Kiel, Medemblik, Hyeres and Warnemunde. And Greg knows first hand the fickle nature of Weymouth. I am hard-pressed to think of a major event - or any minor event - in the last three years where we did not lose a day of racing.

My conclusion: move all international racing to the Caribbean!!