annatunnicliffe.com - Day 1, ESS Act 7 Cancelled

October 18, 2012

Nice, France

Today was the first official day of racing of Act 7 of the Extreme Sailing Series. Unfortunately, the weather did not co-oporate and after several failed attempts to set a course and get marks to hold in the deep water, big waves and an increasing breeze that produced gusts of 30+kts, teams were sent ashore under postponement before racing was cancelled for the day shortly after 4:30pm.

I arrived in Nice on Sunday and met the team as they arrived. We spent Monday and Tuesday morning getting the boat put together and ready for the water before practicing on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday was a double practice session day. We practiced in both the morning breeze and afternoon breeze which are quite different. It was a great opportunity for us to get a feel for the two different breezes and gave us an insight (I hope) as to what we can expect for the races on Saturday morning.

Racing was scheduled for 3pm today so teams began to push off the dock shortly after 2pm. Once on the water and having got our sails up, we headed downwind towards the starting area. We did a loop of the course just to practice some boat handling and had an exciting bear away on our way back downwind (started digging in the bow), but managed to get the bow back out of the water and not capsize. Shortly after we got back down to the start area, the wind increased by at least five knots and that was when the race committee made the call to send us ashore.

Tomorrow's racing is again in the afternoon with the start line just off the beach to keep the racing close for spectators. The forecast is for big wind again, however slightly less than today. You can follow the racing live at the regatta website or by following@GACPindar on Twitter.