ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères - Fluttering flags whet sailors appetite

by Daniel Smith on 22 Apr 2014 At the ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères 2014 as sailors trickled in to rig their boats on the second day of racing they were greeted with flags fluttering in a beautiful breeze that will whet their sailing appetite.

Inside the large low pressure area spreading over western Europe, the combination of a secondary low 1006 mb west off the Balearic Islands with a feeble ridge developing from northern Italy to south-western France allows to maintain a prevailing easterly moderate wind flow over the area.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyères sees London 2012 Men’s RS:X gold medallist Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) make only his second World Cup appearance since the Olympic Games.

The Olympic champion started steady on the opening day and is currently third overall and relishes the conditions Hyères has to offer, 'It can be really diverse but it can also be howling winds and you’ve got to bite through it,' commented Van Rijsselberge. 'It’s got a bit of everything and it’s quite interesting what it’s going to throw at you.

'It’s a big bay and quite choppy and there’s short steep chop when it’s onshore and flat winds when it’s offshore. It’s a diverse place in that kind of way.'

Van Rijsselberge last raced in a big international fleet at Santander 2014 test event in September 2013 and feels back at home in the 91-boat Men’s RS:X fleet, 'I haven’t sailed a competition in six months and I’m really excited to go sailing and race against the other top guys. It’s such a nice thing to do, to compare yourself with the others and next to that just try to do my best and be at the front as much as possible but it’s not always the case.'

Competition for the 1,111 sailors from 59 nations commences at 11:00 local time across the ten Olympic and two Paralympic fleets.

A north easterly at 7-12 knots is expected to increase throughout the morning to 14-18 knots. As it veers easterly towards the latter part of the afternoon it is predicated to decrease to 8-11 knots.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

Men’s RS:X – 3 races – 13:30
Women’s RS:X – 3 races – 13:50
Men’s 470 – 2 races – 11:00
Women’s 470 – 2 races – 11:20
Finn – 2 races – 11:00
Laser – 2 races – 11:00
49er – 3 races – 11:00
49erFX – 3 races – 13:30
Nacra 17 – 3 races – 13:30
2.4mR – 2 races – 11:00
Sonar – 2 races – 11:10

Event website: click here