With near gale force on shore westerly winds kicking up a violent sea state, the first day of racing at the 44Cup Marstand was called off. At the 1000 skipper’s briefing PRO Maria Torrijo put the nine teams on stand-by until 1300, but then when conditions hadn’t improved the ‘AP over A’ was hoisted and racing was abandoned for the day. 

“Today the forecast was very, very strong. When we went out to check the wind, it was already 26 knots average, gusting to 32 knots,” said Torrijo. “We waited to see if the wind would drop but that never happened and the sea state was increasing.”

Due to the Midsummer Eve celebrations on Marstrand island tomorrow afternoon and evening, racing had already been scheduled to start earlier at 1000. There is a chance this might be moved earlier still to make the most of Friday’s breeze. “Tomorrow we are expecting a good breeze in the morning, dropping during the day so we might start a bit earlier,” said Torrijo.  

While on some occasions the call for racing to be cancelled due to excess breeze can be marginal, today this was not the case. Black Star Sailing Team’s Kiwi tactician Cameron Dunn, who has been coming to Marstrand for almost 30 years for fleet and match racing, commented: “It was 100% right to cancel. The observations out there have been solidly from the mid-20s to early-30s all day and from what I have seen it’s been getting windier. The sea state can be horrendous from this direction and there are lots of rocks to leeward of us.”

Too much wind is the obvious factor that can scupper racing for the nimble owner-driver RC44s, but avoiding excessive sea state is vital too. “When we raced in Lanzarote early this year that was fun, really good racing, in 25-30 knots and dead flat water sailing,” Dunn continued. “Fortunately we have a good three days coming up. Tomorrow is the lightest - it might be 10 easing down to less. There will be a sea state still, which, for sure, will make it challenging. Then over the weekend it is light to moderate.” 

Nic Asher, tactician on the 44Cup’s current leader Team Nika, was believing the advice he was given and agreed with the cancellation: “I have never been here before but everyone was saying the waves will be hideous out there. It was pretty windy and wavy yesterday when there wasn’t much wind!  I was keen for some wind, because we go well in that and Vladimir [Prosikhin, Team Nika’s owner] enjoys it but I’m sure it is a horrendous sea state.”