Day 1

All more or less as expected on the first day of racing. The course looks fantastic, despite the obviously poor air quality, and the camera placement for the television coverage is excellent - it's great to get close-ups and aerial views, and also the shots looking down the course towards the finish.

The predictions seem to be holding up, just about. Karsten made short work of her heat, chased and under-rated by Guerette, though I may have underestimated Neykova, and Zhang of China is not to be discounted. I also forgot about Australia in their M2x and M4-, both of which turned in awesome performances. Plus Cohen and Waddell in the M2x.

On the kit front ... plaudits, as expected, to the Netherlands and the US, though the former haven't come close to the Athens lycra, and to Italy for a great improvement. Also to dark horses Estonia, and Australia, who went for the classic yellow tops but snazzed it up with piped shorts with Southern Cross detail. Minor medals to New Zealand and South Africa so far, with France close behind. The wooden spoon still to be decided.