2023 World Bay Area Regatta Day 1
by Guy Nowell 14 Dec 2023 07:37 PST
14-17 December 2023
Even the drones were quiet. World Bay Area Regatta 2023 © Guy Nowell for WBA23
Today was not a day for appreciating the picturesque marine environment of Bao' An as the World Bay Area Regatta slumbered under a blanket of haze all morning, through midday and beyond.
The drones outside the WMRT Media Centre were still and silent. Attempts to run flights of match racing were the sort of stuff that needs to be speeded up in order to fit into a 1-min daily 'reel'. Not much fun.
At 13.20 or thereabouts, PRO Simon James bravely loosed the J/80 and then the FE28 divisions on slo-mo 2-sausage courses that seemed to take forever. Then it was the turn of the Beneteau 40.7s who had been waiting patiently in the wings.
Unfortunately, an already light breeze had become almost non-existent, and the course was just once sausage, at the end of which many of the no-spinnaker fleet had substantially overstood the finish line and generated a log jam of boats as they tried to 'get back' to the finish.
None of this was captured on camera as the media boat driver decided that it was time to go home just before the Beneteau division race started.
Tomorrow's another day. Bring on the breeze, please.