Principal Race Officer Tim Hancock said that having no racing across the duration of a three day sailing event was a career first for him.
In one of those aberrations that occasionally afflicts our weather-dependent sport, beautiful summery conditions and record temperatures blessed the Solent but sadly permitted the race committee to hold no racing for the entire three day duration of the RORC Easter Challenge.
“Normally Easter is a pretty tough event with a huge variety of conditions, but to have this high pressure system sitting over us just doesn’t work for sailing,” observed Eddie Warden Owen, CEO of the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
“The race management team has tried to be patient and do the best they can, but despite the cold water temperature and the hot temperature on the land, the northeasterly gradient has stopped any sea breeze from developing. So it is unfortunate – disappointing for everyone.”
While there was a lot of waiting around, competitors’ time was not entirely lost.
On the water today there wasn’t adequate or stable enough breeze to hold a race, but there was just enough for the race committee to lay on some practice starts.
Ashore, the debriefs up at the RORC Cowes clubhouse, led by coaching guru Jim Saltonstall, were as usual standing room-only affairs, with Saltonstall providing his insights into “the world’s hardest sport” ably assisted by the team from North Sails who provided analysis of drone footage from some of the practice starts that took place.
While there were no prizes to hand out at the RORC Cowes clubhouse at the end of proceedings, the usual Easter egg mountain was distributed to winning recipients.
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