Day 1: Zero wind equals no racing

What hope there was of a late afternoon start, disappeared, leaving the race committee no option other than to postpone racing for the day at 1730

Rain and mill pond conditions on the Clyde this morning, gave way to bright sunshine and a 5-6kts south westerly breeze late this afternoon, which prompted the race committee to attempt to get the opening races of the Laser Radial World Youth Championship underway.

Having been ‘cooped up’ under postponement for over four hours, the 317 young sailors were anxious to launch and head out to the start line in a hopeful, building south-westerly breeze at 1515 with a 5-6kts south-westerly breeze on the race course. However, as the fleets arrived in the race area, at the northern end of Cumbrae just off Skelmorlie Bank, the wind started to drop and was down to 4kts. The wind pattern then took a turn for the worst and what hope there was of a late afternoon start, disappeared, leaving the race committee no option other than to postpone racing for the day at 1730.

In an effort to make up for lost time, the race committee has rescheduled tomorrow’s racing to 1100. The weather forecast however, shows little improvement with wind speeds reaching no more than 5kts from the north, accompanied by heavy rain.

Peter Saxton – Race Officer (Boys fleet): “When we made a decision to call the fleet out to the race course we had a reasonable breeze. Having said that, by the time the fleet arrived after just over an hour after leaving the shore, the wind was beginning to drop and eventually dropped to zero. Thankfully there’s not too much tidal current here so the competitors stayed in the start vicinity and it was all very pleasant but not good for racing. The outlook for wind is not good but we have to manage it a bit the same as the football by just taking it a day at a time.”

Michelle Broekhuizen (NED): “Not good today, no wind. We managed to get out there in a reasonable breeze but it dropped, so it’s not a good start to the regatta. Having said that we had a very pleasant day sitting in the sun enjoying the spectacular scenery here on the Clyde. Unfortunately the wind doesn’t look too good for tomorrow either; in fact it might be less.

 

 

 

 
 

20/7/2010 19:25