To lose two consecutive days of racing at a major sailing championship may be regarded as a misfortune . . . to lose three looks like a disaster.
But sadly that is now the case for the Dragon Gold Cup 2021 by Yanmar, being hosted this week by the Marstrands Segelsällskap and Göteborgs Kungliga Segelsällskap.
With three days completed and three to come this is the mid point in a championship that requires a minimum of four races to be completed for the result to be valid.
With championship rules calling for very long courses and a maximum of two races per day, the pressure is now on to achieve a valid event and race at least four races in the remaining three days.
But Dragon sailors are by nature a resilient and optimistic bunch and the hugely experienced Marstrand race management team is determined to do everything in its power to achieve at least the minimum four races needed.
To this end the first signal for racing on day four will be at 09:00, so a very early start for everyone lies ahead.
The forecast currently anticipates sailable winds earlier in the day which are due to increase through the afternoon and the committee wants to get everyone afloat early in the hope that they can run two decent full length Gold Cup worthy races before the wind increases too much.
Apologies to Mr Wilde