In the second day of race, the wind gave a rest to the sailors of the Sines Grand Prix! The best of the best of the world of formula windsurfing is gathered on the beach of São Torpes, from the 6th till the 10th of May, to dispute the first stage of the world tour. In this second day of race, although the weather reports promised a slight Northern breeze, in fact the expected wind didn’t really blow, which, however, didn’t manage to ruin the good ambience that everybody felt at the race site. At 10:00 a.m., Claudio Alessandrello, the Race Director, was already in his advanced position, while the competitors were waiting for today’s instructions concerning the regatta. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t show up! It has even threatened to do so, but that didn’t happen at all.

The sailors got into the water and grouped themselves at the start area, though the wind has gone away exactly when the start was given, destroying every hope to achieve any regatta during the day and having forced the athletes to return to shore. But not everything was bad news for our on board surf reporter, who was waiting for some days for the arrival of his equipment, which has crossed the main European capitals. It arrived today, in the afternoon, and this sailor couldn’t even help stating, in an ironic way, that: nevertheless, it was very good that the wind didn’t come in, as I’m using borrowed material till now.

Once it was impossible to try another start, due to the lack of wind in the beach of São Torpes, around 6:00 p.m., Cláudio Alessandrello ordered every boat to return to shore and raised the “AP” flag above the “A” flag, putting and end to a day of never ending waiting! Of course, the lack of wind couldn’t ruin the sports party and the organization launched plan “B”, with the sportive animation via a windsurfing simulator, for the delight of a huge number of visitors who came to the race site.

In the meantime, the sailors who had olympic ambitions took the free time to discuss the proposal of new equipment aimed for the Olympic Games in 2012, which was presented during the Sines’ event, while the Grand Prix competitors focused on the main issues concerning the Formula Windsurfing World Circuit, which is starting in Sines with a huge success.

The organization, sailors and regatta officials remain calm, as the weather forecasts for Thursday onwards are favourable, with the winds coming from the North, between 16 and 22 knots