How often have you traveled to some place for a regatta or sailing vacation that promises perfect sailing winds every day... and then been disappointed?
How many places will tell you "we get a 15+ knot sea breeze from the SW every afternoon" or "thanks to the trade winds we get consistent winds of 15-20 knots from the NE every day"? And then when you spend a week there and the winds are way too light or way too strong for decent racing, the constant refrain from the locals is, "I don't understand. The weather isn't usually like this here."
It happens all the time.
It happened to me in Cabarete last year when we had rain and very light wind for much of the week.
It happened to me in Australia at the Masters Worlds last year when we had rain and light winds in the first half of the week.
It happens all the time.
It has happened at the Laser Worlds in Canada this week. Last year in Australia, the Canadians were talking up St. Margaret's Bay in Nova Scotia, the site of this year's Worlds. "Oh yeah, the winds are fantastic. 15-20 knots out of the south-west every afternoon. You have to come."
So let's see what weather our intrepid team of bloggers at the Laser Worlds have actually experienced. In the first five days they have had.....
two days when the wind was good for racing and two races were completed for each fleet on each day,
one day of dense fog and shifty winds in which only one race was sailed for each fleet (and one of those was subsequently tossed by the protest committee),
one day with a hurricane causing huge waves and no sailing,
and one day with no wind at all with lots of drifting around and no races completed.
In spite of the frustrating weather, our blogging team at the Worlds has continued to file reports about the action (or lack of it)...
Brian Raney catches us up with his activities in the last four days in which he has been mainly sailing on instruments.
Ashley Brunning gives us a summary of the no-wind day in Glass Out!
Likewise Clay Johnson told us about No Wind on Day Five.
And you don't even need to know any Spanish to guess what Raul Aguayo was talking about in CALMA.
Meanwhile Colin Cheng from Singapore seems to be more excited about being recognized by Proper Course as a member of Team Blogger than anything else. As he says, there's a first time for everything.
On the other hand, Brent and Josh, the LaserPerformance charter boat guys at the the Worlds were most excited after the hurricane about the fact that their cabin was still there!
I guess this is why major Laser regattas always stretch over a week. Chances are that you will get some days of the so-called "typical" weather in a whole week. Good news is that it does sound as if they are getting 12-14 knots of breeze today and may well complete three races. So I am looking forward to hearing this evening from our bloggers at the Worlds all about the racing in the gold, silver and bronze fleets ... watch this space.
3 comments:
Wind: http://horsesmouth.typepad.com/hm/2009/08/a-little-bit-of-the-bay-for-you-today-sailing-video.html
Try it again: wind!
Click my name, I don't know why I was unable to create a link.
Post a Comment