Lack of wind holds up sailors
Racing in all classes at the Olympic sailing regatta has yet to begin this afternoon due to a lack of wind in the waters of the Yellow Sea off Qingdao.
Competition in the Finn, Yingling, 49er, Laser, Laser Radial and RS:X classes was slated to begin at 1:00pm but all competing boats were still ashore over an hour after the scheduled start time awaiting the racing committee’s decision on whether to go ahead with the races.
Local event organisers admitted in the daily press briefing that the wind forecast for the afternoon was not good but they are continuing to monitor the situation to determine if it is suitable for racing.
Organisers have yet to decide whether to utilise tomorrow’s reserve racing day for the Finn and Yngling classes ahead of Saturday’s medal races.
The boats in both classes have already had seven races, one above the minimum number of six required by the International Sailing Federation in their sailing instructions, but may still try to reschedule some of the postponed races.
Regardless of how many races are held in the next two days, the Finn and Yngling classes are still scheduled to go ahead on Saturday.
Light breezes yesterday resulted in a two-hour delay in the start of the Finn, Yingling, Laser and Laser Radial classes yesterday with only one race was held in each category as a result of the lengthy stoppage.
