Light Winds Predicted for the start of Airlie Beach Race Week

10:58 PM Thu 13 Aug 2009 GMT

'PredictWind.com wind map showing wind at Friday 2pm - Airlie Beach Race Week' PredictWind/Expedition

With the first race for the 2009 Airlie Beach Race Week due to start in less than two hours (1100hrs EST) PredictWind.com is predicting light winds for race one.

As the start gun fires for Race One of the 2009 Airlie Beach Race Week the light winds should make for an interesting but slow start.

With such light winds the direction is likely to change and will often affect the accuracy of the models. All weather models use atmospheric conditions to generate their forecasts. As the atmospheric pressure forces are weak in light air situations it is harder to capture these forces accurately.

The wind at 1100hrs EST is expected to be 3-6 Knots predominantly from the NNW. By 12:00pm the wind should swing more towards the NW and will slowly increase in strength throughout the afternoon until 2:00pm when the wind looks to be swinging back towards the NNW and should reach the max wind strength of the day at around 15Knts NNW. The wind is then expected to ease to 7-10Knts by 6:00pm. This should make for an interesting day of racing as skippers and crew make the most of the light winds predicted for race one.

PredictWind.com wind map showing wind at Friday 12pm - Airlie Beach Race Week - PredictWind-Expedition

Between 8:00am - 11:00am on Saturday morning the wind is expected to shift to the SE and sit at around 16-18knts for the remainder of the day. The current forecast is predicting this trend to continue for the next four to five days. Which should result in some exciting racing.

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