Today at the 44Cup Alcaidesa Marina, there was nothing marginal about the wind strength on the Bay of Gibraltar. Despite the first warning signal for the opening day of competition being brought forward by an hour to 1100 CEST, already at 1000 conditions were exceeding the maximum 25-knot limit for RC44 racing to take place. The decision to cancel racing for the day was disappointing, but an easy one.
44Cup PRO Maria Torrijo explained: “We are expecting strong wind, especially this afternoon – we have a warning of gale force winds. This morning we were supposed to have less wind and a window of two hours in which we wanted to do two races, but right now on the course we have 23 knots steady and the gusts are up to 27-28 and we know it will be increasing throughout the day.”
Fortunately, prospects for Friday are much better with 18-20 knots forecast, when the race committee will attempt to make up the schedule.