Miho Bay, Sakaiminato City, Japan
The expected rain held off this morning, but unfortunately so did the wind, and the day began with sailors postponed on shore. The plan was to wait until 1500h before calling races for the day, after which it would be too late to get all three fleets (Men’s & the split Women’s) on the water, complete a race, and get the sailors back to shore before the 1800h Coast Guard deadline.
Race committee came close to cancelling for the day, but the wind began to fill after 1400h and RC brought the AP down at 1440h. At 1545h the Men’s fleet had a clean start in 8-10 knots of steady breeze out of the South. The Yellow and Blue Women’s fleets started cleanly, too, and by 1610h all three fleets were on the race course – the Men on the outer loop of the Trapezoid and the Women on the inner loop.
In the Women’s Yellow fleet, the early leaders included Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN), Host Line Flem (NOR) and Julia Buesselberg (GER). In the Blue fleet, it was Marie Bolou (FRA), Marit Bouwmeester (NED), and Josefin Olsson (SWE). All stayed near the front of the fleet downwind and the fleets split fairly evenly between the two gates.
But the afternoon breeze began to fade during the downwind legs. Race committee, tracking the leg times, decided to shorten at the second weather mark for all three fleets. It was a good call, with lead boat finish times of just under an hour for all three fleets, within the target time of 50-60 minutes.
The provisional scores for the Men have Morioka Kazuaki (JPN) leading, followed by Koshida Yoshimasa (JPN), and Perez Guilherme (BRA). In the Women’s yellow, Rindom (DEN) finished ahead of Barrue Marie (FRA) and Bolou Marie (FRA). In the Women’s blue, it was Olsson Josefin (SWE) ahead of Mikkola Monika (FIN) and Flem Høst Line (NOR). The full listing of provisional scores is available here.
But this is just the first race in a twelve-race regatta. Racing will continue tomorrow, and a change to the SIs allows up to three races to be run. The forecast predicts good breeze and we’ll see where the scores stand after tomorrow. Stay tuned!