Wind postpones Portimao Global OR Leg 2 start

10:52 PM Thu 11 Dec 2008 GMT

'The Portim?o Global Ocean Race fleet in Cape Town' Brian Hancock &copy

The Portimao Global Ocean Race Leg 2 start has been postponed for 24 hours.

The Southeaster, Cape Town's notorious summer wind that whips up and over Table Mountain and howls along city streets, has been blowing for three straight days. It usually has a three day cycle but this particular show of force by the wind gods is forecast to continue for another two days, at least. With this in mind and the fact that the breezy conditions have made it very difficult to prepare boats for the gruelling leg to Wellington, Race Officials have decided to postpone the Cape Town start by 24 hours.

'Our entire ethos is to have an event that is competitor friendly,' said Race Director Josh Hall. 'Sending them out into the teeth of a full-on gale is hardly the right thing to do and since the forecast is for the Southeaster to continue to blow through Saturday, we have decided to push the start back a day. The leg to New Zealand will be tough enough as it is without sending the sailors off into rough conditions.'

The wind has also made it difficult for the skippers to prepare their boats. Most of the yachts have had their masts removed and inspected, a normal course of action prior to a long Southern Ocean leg. The problem, however, has been that with the wind howling re-stepping the masts has been impossible. Finally late Wednesday afternoon all the boats were returned to their berths in front of the Royal Cape Yacht Club with masts in place, but that is not the end of it.

'With the wind blowing like it has, none of the skippers have been able to go out sailing to tune their masts,' Hall continued. 'You need moderate conditions to inspect and tune rigging. Add to that many of the skippers have also bought new sails. It simply does not make sense to send them out until they are all fully prepared. Our goal is to get everyone safely around the world so with that in mind, this is a prudent thing to do.

The new start date is December 14 and the start will take place at 10:30 local time, 08:30 UTC. The start line will be in Table Bay off the entrance to the harbour.

www.portimaorace.com

by Brian Hancock

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Wind postpones Portimao Global OR Leg 2 start

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