Qingdao not quite up to expectation
The sailing community had been prepared for worse, but the reality of the fifth day's racing in Fushan Bay came as a surprise to those who had not spent months training on the Olympic regatta site. 
'Sea mist, 2008 Olympic Regatta, Qingdao'
Guy Nowell © Click Here to view large photo
Stories of thick smog, total absence of wind and carpets of green algae abounded and while they were all there on the fifth day, there was a degree of moderation abroad.
Once more, a vast fleet of scum scrapers was out in the morning - in excess of 350 fishing boats whose catch was the green algae that spreads over the course on the flood tide, were out from shortly after dawn. Try as they may, the stuff was still on the surface of the race course and more than one sailor had to clear it from a foil.
Spotting the windward mark would have been impossible from the gunwale of a boat. The dull pink buoys of Course Echo, where the Ynglings and Finns race, are particularly difficult to spot at the best of times and with the visibility closed down almost impossible to see until at least halfway up the leg.
Whether to use the wind, such of it that there was, was the domain of the individual race officers and while some felt that there was sufficient in strength and stability, there were those who had their doubts.
It seems to matter little to the 49ers, whose races are over in a twinkling, whether the breeze swings around, but the slower boats, Ynglings and Finns, whose races last considerably longer, are more proportionately affected by the swings in direction.
Hence there was a long delay for both the Laser classes, the Ynglings and the Finns.
The final results in many classes were mere pastiches of reality and the pre-series predictions can be lobbed into the green weed along the foreshore.
Member of the Brit-Pack, the media ladies and gentlemen from the UK, have a sweepstake running on the predicted outcomes of all eleven classes with a low point score for a correct entry.
Currently a very high score is expected to scoop the pool.
by Bob Fisher 
perth, WA
