Rio 2016- Wacky winds on Monday and a bumper schedule on Tuesday

by Mark Jardine, Sail-World.com Managing Editor on 16 Aug 2016 It was the most frustrating day so far of the Olympic sailing competition with the wind refusing to play fair on Guanabara Bay. After sitting around for most of the day in next to no wind, the ten finalists for the Women's Laser Radial Medal Race were released from the shore just before 16:00 local time, only to be hit by a 30 knot squall.

Read Mark Jardine's summary of the day at www.sail-world.com/147416 , see Richard Gladwell's photos at www.sail-world.com/147421 and Andy Rice's round up is at www.sail-world.com/147428

The squall struck the 49er fleet out on the Copacabana course on day 8 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Regatta. 2012 Olympic Gold medallist in the 49er, Nathan Outteridge described what happened:

'We went through the finish line and everyone still had their kites up, and were sailing back towards the beach. Suddenly it got really light. Our coach was in front of us, so we dropped the kite to try and get a towline set up.

'As we dropped it we looked under the boom and could see this wall of breeze coming at us. We quickly tied onto the RIB and got the sails down as quickly as we could. A few tried to tie up to RIBs and just waiting for it to drop, but our forecasters had it spot on - that when it did hit, it would last for about an hour. We got strapped the boat onto the RIB and got the sails down as quick as we could.'

'I think everyone has a bit of wear and tear on their boats - damage to sails. People could have lost sails out there as it got so windy. We did a very good job of making sure that we didn't get any damage to the boat. We will check it over tonight and just make sure that it is all OK.'

'Our coach recorded wind speeds in the low 40kts at times during the squall.'

Read Richard Gladwell's full chat with Nathan at www.sail-world.com/147446

Packed schedule for Tuesday

The Laser and Laser Radial Medal Races were scheduled for Monday, but with no wind until 4pm and then 30+ knots afterwards, no racing was possible on the Pao de Acucar course in Guanabara Bay. This means there's a full schedule or racing today.

Medal Race schedule: (Rio local time)

• 13:05 Women's Laser Radial


• 13:50 Men's Laser


• 14:35 Men's Finn


• 15:20 Mixed Nacra 17

Elsewhere, the 470 Men & Women will be racing on the Niteroi course, the 49er Men on the Escola Naval course and the 49er FX Women on the Aeroporto course. Each of these fleets will be aiming to complete three races.

As always on www.Sail-World.com we'll be bringing you news of all the racing. Stay tuned!