Contender Worlds Day Four - too much wind?

9:37 PM Thu 30 Jul 2009 GMT

'Contender Worlds' Christophe Favreau &copy Click Here to view large photo

The rumours around Sonderborg Yacht Club were that Day 4 of the Contender World Championship would have a lot of wind, and the rumours turned out to be true.

At 9:30am, the anemometer at the club already read eight metres per second (which is roughly 16 knots). By 10:30, half an hour before racing was to start for the gold fleet, the wind meter was ready about 13 m/s steady with 15 m/s gusts - and a helpful 'hold onto your hats' was running underneath the wind readings. Even the Aussies looked a bit hesitant.

Several sailors had already departed for the racecourse, which resulted in some impressive capsizes (one contender did a backflip going upwind when the wind caught its bow at the peak of a wave and flipped it backwards), and unfortunately Ann Siedel, one of nine women racing, snapped her carbon mast on the way out.

The decision was made to wait until 4pm to determine if any racing would happen for the day.

Event website: click here

by Flemming Clausen

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Contender Worlds Day Four - too much wind?

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