Storm stalls World Sailing Championships

December 06, 2011 | 15:01

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A wild summer thunderstorm caused the abandonment of the fourth day of racing at the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Western Australia on Tuesday.

Only a handful of Group B women's match racing clashes were able to be completed under menacing skies before racing was halted for safety reasons.

The start of racing on the third day was delayed by a lack of wind, but a large storm front that rolled across Perth on Tuesday morning saw lightning closing in on competitors on Fremantle Harbour after just an hour of racing.

All subsequent morning racing was initially postponed as officials monitored the ominous weather.

Regatta organisers were hoping conditions would improve during the day, but had no choice but to cancel all further racing as the short-term forecast deteriorated early in the afternoon.

Heavy rains were rolling across Perth and hail was forecast, but of more concern was the constant lightning and thunder.

At around 1:45pm, the rest of the day's racing was officially postponed, meaning that none of the scheduled racing in the men's Finn, men's 470, women's windsurfing or women's Laser Radial was able to take place.

Despite the setback, tournament officials said they were confident it wouldn't affect the rest of the championships being completed on time on December 18.

Each class has a reserve day that can be used, and racing is likely to start earlier in the coming days to clear the backlog, weather permitting.

The forecast for Wednesday was for light winds and a few showers.

The highlight of the few races that were completed was young Australian Olivia Price's narrow one-second win over the USA's Genevieve Tulloch.

AFP

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