Juanpa Cadario: Mundial de 470, sin viento en el primer día

Mundial de 470, sin viento en el primer día

Fuente info scuttlebutt europe

Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships

The Hague, The Netherlands: Conditions transpired against the possibility of racing on the opening day of the Delta Lloyd 470 World Championships, taking place off the Hague, Holland.

The final tally of entries taking part in this resort town, best known for being the home of the International Court of Justice, comes to 119 men and 62 women. Chilean sailors, Aurelia Zulueta and Josefina Eluchans have had to stand down, but there has been an 11th hour entry in the 470 Men's class from India in Pushparajan Muttu and Nijeesh Bhaskaran so there are still 39 nations competing.

After a delay ashore until 2pm (local), the Men's and Women's fleets ventured out into a near mill pond, as they did their best to not be thrown around too much by the tide. But with storm clouds looming and no start looking possible, the fleets were sent back ashore - just in time. The lack of wind this afternoon proved to be the calm before the storm for at around 5pm suddenly the heavens opened and there was driving rain and 40 knot gusts. Just over half the fleet had made it safely to land when this struck, but some weren't so lucky. This included the Swedes Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Östling, who last Wednesday moved into the no.1 position in the new ISAF rankings.

Dahlberg explained what happened: 'When the wind came we were being towed and we were doing a change in the towing. The wind caught us by surprise and we ripped our sails. So we are looking for new sails at the moment. It wasn't the best way to come into the Worlds..."

So will there be racing tomorrow? According to Event Director Edwin Lodder the forecast for tomorrow should be better than today. However they do have some flexibility. There is no time limit on when they can start racing, and Lodder says that if conditions prove awkward again this week they have the option of keeping the boats out into the evening. 'We want people back before 9pm We don't want to finish them in the dark or having them back in the harbour after dark."

The forecast has the wind veering through 180 degrees tonight into the northeast. During the day it is supposed to build steadily from 5-10 knots at lunchtime to 10-15 later in the afternoon. -- James Boyd

www.470worlds2010.com

World Match Racing Tour TV Schedules
You can see all the action from last week at Sweden and watch exclusive interviews with the top Tour skippers in our highlights programme that will broadcast on channels including America One, Eurosport and CNBC in August.

TV4 Sweden will be broadcasting a highlights programme on the 18 July at 20.00 (local time) and will be repeating the programme on the 19 and 25 July at 17.00 (local times). Eurosport and Eurosport Asia Pacific will be broadcasting the highlights programme, Stena Match Cup Sweden, produced by RedHanded TV and distributed by Boulder Creek International, which follows 16 skippers at the halfway point of the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour.

The full global schedule at
www.wmrt.com/multimedia/tv-schedules.html