Mistral Blows Out Practice Racing in Hyeres

Overnight the Mistral came up in Hyeres and this morning crews at the 2006 Melges 24 World Championship awoke to glorious sunshine but gusty winds of up to 40 knots. Right now the view from the press office is of white caps all the way across the Bay of Hyeres and racing has had to be abandoned for today. Every now and then the wind has dropped off for a short while and several of the teams have attempted to go out for a training sail but none have got further than the harbour entrance. "We've dressed and undressed ready to go sailing about five times already today. Every time we think the wind has dropped and get ready to go it comes back again even stronger." said Maurizio Abba of Alina Helly Hansen. Our local weather gurus tell us that the Mistral is likely to be in for several days so everyone has their fingers crossed that it will drop in time for the start of championship racing on Sunday.

The good news is that registration is going extremely well and the majority of crews are now fully checked in. They facilities for measurement put into place by COYCH have been extremely efficient and there have been no delays or major problems so far.