FAIR WINDS
As we all know strong winds cannot be guaranteed in the UK, we are dependent upon low pressure coming in on the week the organisers put in the diary. WSW is always in October to tie in with the autumn equinox and high tides in the middle of the day. This year the date set a year ago paid off in spades but was it going to be enough to break the harbour records both set on the same day at the event in 2008 by Anders Bringdal and Zara Davis? The opening Saturday and Sunday started off with fairly light winds, which was fortunate, as the organisers can’t be seen to encourage youngsters to take time of school. So this is when the juniors have their chance to compete. The fastest of the bunch was local schoolboy, Samuel Anstey, with a very respectable 23.61 knots in only 12 knots of wind!
However everybody was anticipating Ophelia and what she could bring to the party. The Internet was awash with speculation of what havoc it could bring but the competitors were only interested in how fast it could make them go. Monday morning started very windy and the course was set to open at 10:00, then the unthinkable happened, the wind dropped to almost nothing, the sky went dark and the sun went bright orange. Speculation was rife, had the hurricane gone too far west and were we going to miss it? Had Donald finally had enough of Kim and pressed the button? To say it was eerie was an understatement, all the automatic lights at the Sailing academy started to come on and the air had a strange smell of burning.