Racers line up for Sail Brisbane
Blue skies and no Jellyfish for Waterloo Bay
What could be considered a disastrous forecast was updated late in the week to show light winds from 10-15 knots over the whole weekend, with the possibility of storms on Sunday. In these airey conditions the lighter riders will be favoured on all legs of the course, but when big kites are involved it gets pretty interesting if the wind picks up!
Currently a problem in the bay is thick patches of seaweed. The short sea grass is sitting in clumps and once hit, the excess drag on the long fins cause the race boards to veer sharply downwind, usually ejecting the rider off one side. Only a problem on the upwind legs when the boards are going around 30kmph, the weed could be a deciding factor on who's at the top of the podium when it's all over. Downwind, board speed is up around 55kmph which cuts though the weed, although you should feel sorry for the poor guy who hits a really big patch. They're going to be bouncing a long way.
What's NOT there, are the jellyfish. In recent weeks there's been plagues of the little blue suckers. One sting can put you off an entire race, not to mention the extreme stopping power of the critters on your fins, and the smelly slime that they leave all over the boards and your ankles! After a good days racing you could walk along the beach to find millions of little chopped up pieces of jellyfish. But luckily, after the recent rain and variable winds they've retreated back to wherever it is they came from, much to the delight of all the kite racers.
So how will the kiters go against the more 'proper' classes of international dinghies? This could be one of the most amazing shows of the sport yet, with tons of interest from other sailors who could cross over to the new class of high performance sailing.
The racing kicks off on Friday at 11am and runs till Monday evening. Stay tuned for live updates and pictures daily in the Seabreeze.com.au Racing Forums here.
BEAUMARIS, VIC
