Flying Fifteen World Championships at Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Day 4

Day four of the Flying Fifteen Worlds in Hong Kong © Guy Nowell / RHKYC

Day four of the Flying Fifteen Worlds in Hong Kong © Guy Nowell / RHKYC

Having pushed racing to the point where he was the maximum permissible one race ahead, the Worlds RO, Jerry Rollin, was able to relax a little today with the requirement for one race, in a target time of 120 minutes.

After yesterday's grizzly conditions, 'overcast grey' seemed like a distinct improvement, accompanied by 15 to 20kts of appreciably cooler north easterly breeze and the odd patch of blue sky.

Race management may have felt slightly redundant today, as the fleet posted an 'all clear' start at the first time of asking, with El Toro setting the early pace, reaching the windward mark in just over 20 minutes, ahead of Steve Goacher, The Wife's Ffault and Foof.

An 11 minute downwind leg saw Foof sneak into third, with Alan Bax taking up fifth position, but 20 minutes later, the Ineffable's rounded in fifth place, holding Betty in sixth.

Given the longer target time, the pin boat weighed anchor and motored to the windward end of the course to lay a finish line, allowing the team to view some of the man overboard and emergency rigging procedures practiced by the 'Fifteens, including one crew going up the mast after the main halyard – no mean feat in the washing machine conditions of the Lamma patch.

With the sun breaking through, the breeze started to lighten and five minutes inside the target time El Toro coasted home at the top of the finish board, a mere 16 seconds ahead of Goacher, with Matthew Owen / Andrew Reed a minute behind. Betty and Foof had a fierce battle to the finish, with Betty making fourth by the narrowest of margins, relegating Graham Vials to an unaccustomed (but discardable) fifth.

Nick and Janet Jerwood have shown remarkable consistency in both the Nationals and the Worlds and posted a sixth today, however after five races, with El Toro able to discard their BFD score, the overall standing show Vials in first on 5 points, ahead of El Toro and Ineffable on 12 apiece. With two races remaining, the 19th International Flying Fifteen World Championship is still anyone's for the taking.

Top Hong Kong boat is currently Noisy Forefather, helmed by Cosmas Grelon, in 18th overall with Ffact or Ffiction in 21st and Uffa Fox Ache in 24th.

Day four of the Flying Fifteen Worlds in Hong Kong - photo © Guy Nowell / RHKYC

Full results with elapsed times can be seen at www.rhkyc.org.hk/ffw13resultselapsed.aspx

Tracking of a selection of the top performing boats can be viewed at tacktracker.com/cloud/regattas/show/1288483917

Results after Day 4: