Lack Of Wind Halts Racing At Cowes Week 2013

The fourth day of this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week saw a change in the weather, with blazing sun but a long postponement while competitors waited in vain for a stable sea breeze to fill in.

An indefinite postponement was lifted at 1130, when the signals for a building south-westerly sea breeze were looking good. There was plenty of cloud building over the mainland and in the central Solent the overnight north-north-westerly airflow had already swung to the south, although there was just a few knots of wind speed at this stage. Close to the Island shore there was more breeze, but with a strong easterly component to the direction that was unlikely to last long before being replaced once the main afternoon sea breeze became established.

At 1330, with the fitful sea breeze still in the south-east along most of the south coast of the UK outside the Solent, race officials began making preparations to send fleets to the eastern Solent. However, with the west-going ebb tide now in full flow the and the mean wind speed frequently failing to climb above five knots, even in mid Solent, there was still not enough breeze for even the fastest White Group dayboats to make progress upwind against the tide on the start line. This was clearly illustrated by three J/70s that spent several minutes tacking back and forth in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron, without ever progressing towards the east against the tide.

With time running out to get the large number of starts away, it was with much regret that race officials had to make the disappointing, but unavoidable, decision to abandon racing for all classes at 1400, the latest feasible time to begin the start sequence. Full Story