Imminent Hurricane a Menace for the Worlds

Written by: Jens

The racing was supposed to start at noon today, since the race committee needed to get 3 races completed and 3 more tomorrow, to make up for no racing on Sunday thanks to Hurricane Bill. Yes, its official now: Bill has cancelled the Sunday racing.

Around noon, I went up to the van to grab a bite for lunch. I looked out over the bay and could see a small section of some active weather. It was looked foggy out there, so I figured that I might as well keep working today, as viewing would be useless.

So, I’m in the internet area of the club house, and I start hearing the broadcasted reports from the race committee out on the course. They are having a difficult time setting a course due to the fog. They said visibility was about 0.5 miles, and the windward mark was set at 1.7 miles. Later, I heard the fog was thickening.

I could just imagine the sailing conditions, having sailed in dense fog myself. It’s not fun. The race committee managed to get one race in. Things must be getting better, I thought. That’s the last report I heard.

Throughout the afternoon, I saw people measuring the rooms in the club house. They are planning the boat storage for the time when Bill will be raging outside on Sunday. After the racing on Saturday, all the boats must somehow be put into secure shelters.

At about 5:30 pm, I saw the first Lasers returning; the racing was over. Better shut down my computer, and help Brad. I asked Brad how it went and it was clear that if Bill was not in the picture, today’s racing would have been cancelled; but the race committee NEEDS races.