Rio Test: Sunning yes, Sailing no

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (August 4, 2014) – For the thousands of tourists, it was the perfect day with a beating Brazilian sun, clear South American skies, and the occasional gust of light breeze to cool down bathers on Copacabana Beach.

Unfortunately, for the 324 sailors from 34 countries it was not perfect conditions for sailboat racing at the Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2014 as light winds forced the Race Committee to cancel racing for all 10 Olympic events by 16:00.

The 49er fleet were rigged and ready first up as the Race Committee called them onto the water. It turned out to be a short lived trip as New Zealand’s Blair Tuke explained, “We went out to try and get some racing in at about one and the wind was still blowing from the north west direction. It was really light and a bit all over the place and the Race Committee really struggled to get a race away but we went out there and gave it a try.”

Despite a lack of competition on race day two, Tuke is happy with the time put in to learning the Rio race course. Tuke concluded, “We’ve been here for a couple of weeks and it’s been great. There are a lot of challenges with the current and different wind conditions but we’re really enjoying our time here.”

Light winds had been predicted for the second day of racing, with a maximum of 10 knots on the cards if the breeze played ball. The wind failed to materialise and the decision to cancel the Laser, Laser Radial and 470 fleets, who were scheduled to race on outside courses Copacabana and Niterói, was made at 14:50.

Fleets racing on the inside courses – Ponte, Escola Naval and Pão de Açucar – were cancelled shortly afterwards to bring an early close to race day two. Click here for course graphic.

The third day of racing will see a cold front pass through Rio de Janeiro that will bring showers, stronger breeze, and an increase in wave size. Having lost a day of racing, all of the fleets will sail three races on Tuesday.

The state of play remains the same in the Finn and Men’s and Women’s RS:X with Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) and Charline Picon (FRA) atop of their windsurfing fleets and Brazil’s Jorge Zarif (BRA) in pole position in the heavyweight dinghy. The remaining fleets will commence their first race on Tuesday.

Event website: www.aquecerio.com/en/competitions/international-sailing-regatta-2014
ISAF microsite: www.sailing.org/2014-test-event.php

Report by ISAF media.

Background: Aquece Rio – International Sailing Regatta 2014 on August 3-9 is the first of two test events with the second following in 2015, provisionally scheduled for 12-22 August. Organised by Rio 2016 and Confederação Brasileira de Vela (CBVela) in conjunction with the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), the regatta will test the field of play, equipment, workforce, systems and procedures in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition.