Capitalizing on a promising forecast for the duration of the event’s second day, the race committee wasted no time in summoning both fleets to the water to battle it out over two race eliminations.
With the wind blowing from the prevailing southwest direction, both the local thermal, and venturi effect soon had the forecasted 12 knots of breeze accelerated to a gusty 25 knots, setting the stage for some classic slalom action.
Over in the women’s fleet, there was only one race elimination completed before the wind became too light to continue. In that race, Valerie Arrighetti (Tabou / Gaastra / Mystic) produced a faultless performance, finishing first in the qualifying round, and then repeating the feat in the subsequent final, to secure the elimination win, and early event lead. In her wake, she left Aruba’s Sarah-Quita Offringa (Starboard / Gaastra / Mystic) in second and France’s Fanny Aubet (JP / NeilPryde) in third.
Wind permitting, tomorrow’s action will kick off with the remaining men’s losers final, and the women’s finals before a third race elimination is started. Proceedings are scheduled to begin from 11.00am, after the morning’s 10.30am skippers meeting.
