Glamour Day at Carnac marking half way point of the regatta.
Day four at the VRsport.tv International 14 Championships was a world away from the carnage of day three. The sun was high in the sky, there was a fresh breeze out in the bay, and the atmosphere at Carnac Yacht Club reflected the conditions. The morning was spent patching up the International 14 fleet, which took a bit of a battering yesterday. The boat park was filled with the sounds of files, angle grinders, saws, tape was everywhere, and ropes haemorrhaged out of boats. A room of the club had been turned into a makeshift sail repair centre, and the official notice board marquee had been taken over by spars and rigs. Amidst the chaos of Carnac Yacht Club the fleet was born again, and the International 14 family had also acquired a new member, as Eike Ehrig’s wife gave birth to his child back in Germany.
On the water, the start went smoothly with no boats recorded as OCS. Glen Truswell and Sam Pascoe stepped back into their usual position at the first windward mark, closely followed by Roger Blasse and Andrew Gilligan in AUS 657, Andy Shaw and Adam Lees in GBR 1552, Hayter and Neighbour in AUS 666. The fleet was tight at the first mark, which made for an exciting downwind leg, as big gains could be made resulting in valuable positions.
By the end of the race, there had been a considerably big change in the top five. Truswell and Pascoe comfortably retained their lead, and took their third bullet of the event. Neale Jones and Ed Fitzgerald came back from 7thto take second, Hayter and Neighbour fought up from 5th to take bronze, and Katie Nurton and Nigel Ash sailed an impressive race to turn their 10that the first mark to a 4th at the finish. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, with André Bates even comparing the conditions to Hawaii, although admitting that the sea was “slightly colder”.
Back on shore the sailors were buzzing, tonight being the big mid-week party, with the layday (which I am reliably informed by an anonymous Canadian source is in fact known as getting laid day), booked off for hangovers. The results board hangs dejected in the marquee, and sailors sit around in the afternoon sun chatting and knocking back their cool beers. Safe to say that there will be a few sore heads about Carnac tomorrow. 
Australians
With Trusswell/Pascoe increasing their stranglehold on the regatta, everyone has been left to fight over the scraps. National Champions Hayter/Neighbour have been consistent apart from their 20th in Race 2, once the drop is enforced they should be well and truly entrenched in the top 3 if they can keep up their good run. Krstic/Lanati are in the same situation, with a 2,3,5 Scoreline once the drop is enforced. We now have 5 boat in the top 10 to square the ledger with team GBR. With a lay day tomorrow it gives the teams a chance to reset and see if they can do some damage in the back half of the event.
Top 10 after 4 races
1 GBR 1553 Trusswell/Pascoe
2 GBR 1530 Jones/Fitzgerald
3 GBR 1541 Gilbert/Mcgrane
4 GBR 1519 Massey/Hillary
5 AUS 656 Krstic/Lanati
6 GBR 1557 Nurton/Ash
7 AUS 661 Devine/Furlong
8 AUS 666 Hayter/Neighbour
9 AUS 663 Irwin/Perry
10 AUS 659 Sloss/Elliot
Other Australians
21st AUS 650 Edmunds/Layfield
22nd Aus 657 Blasse/Gilligan
33rd AUS 628 Strong/Cameron
32nd AUS 638 Strong/Vaughan
39th AUS 674 Vickery/Vickery
38th AUS 675 Patterson/McGeoch
36th AUS 631 Vance/Von Felton
39th AUS 669 Vickery/Vickery
46th AUS 626 Mahar/Mahar
42nd AUS Alexander/Wilsdon
53rd AUS 667 Tomamichel/Wangel
