The Inter 18 would have made it an incredible story.

The talent is indeed deep. I still think that there will only be three boats in the top ten finishers.

For the US (those who wish to wave the flag), we have sometime-seppo John Casey on his new Wildcat. The boat's been seriously tricked out - a benefit of working at Hobie. We also have Robbie Daniel on a new out-of-the-box Capricorn. In the warm-up regatta, JC was top ten for the weekend until he got hit by the black flag. Robbie made the top ten with three 10s, a 3 and a 2. He's getting over an infected cut on his leg, but he happens to be sailing with Gary Chu, who can write perscriptions - how handy is that?

This is going to be a hell of a week.