Everything started at 10.00 for the Skippers meeting, a very early skippers meeting considering the forecast was saying that the wind would only pick up around 15.00. The CR told all competitors that we would do 4 races today, two back to back, a rest of 45m and another two races back to back. [more]

The day was very hot, with a amazing sunshine and temperature above 30º Celsius, very good for the beach, but not so good for the windsurfing equipment. The wind in the morning was NE with around 10 knots inside the harbor, but outside with lots of holes and around 5 to 7 knots.
At 12.00, the jury lowered the AP and all competitors had 30 minutes to get on the water! With the wind dropping when all competitors had all their equipment rigged and prepared to go to the water, the CR cancelled.  Everyone had to start to de-rig again because it was impossible to leave rigged equipment in the sun. After this false call there was a one hour break for the competitors and CR to have lunch.
After the break there was a short wait while the wind was changing to SW then, with a speed of around 7 knots, the AP flag was lowered again and everyone sent on to the water.  Race 4 started but lots of competitors didn’t make it to the race, because they had to go upwind with a constant wind of 7 knots with a little chop.  After around 5 minutes of racing the CR cancelled again.
Eventually the wind started to pick up from SW around 9 to 12 knots, and finally the 4th race started with everyone ready for this race. We finished race 4, with the wind dropping and changing direction.  After changing the course we started again with race 5, the wind dropping, very shifty with differences of direction of around 40 degrees between SW and NW, holes of 5 knots and gusts of 12 knots.  Eventually as the first two guys were doing only half of the race planing, the CR again cancelled the race. All competitors came again to the start line, and the CR again attempted the start of Race 5.  The wind and the conditions continued the same, shifty 40o in direction and the wind between 4 knots and 9 knots over most of the course, but this time the CR didn’t cancel resulting in lots of complaints by the competitors.
A break of 45 minutes to relax then back on the water for two races back to back.  All the courses were big, the first guys were taking around 27 minutes to complete the full race, very hard with this changing wind.  (This kind of wind is not normal in Portimao, the problem is the Atlantic Ocean is North Wind and in the Strait of Gibraltar you have Levante wind, and because we are almost in the middle, these two winds are fighting, and that is why the wind is changing a lot.)
Finally we finished the two last races of the day and went ashore. Miguel won the 4 races of the day, but in the last one more than half of the race Vasco Chaveca was in front of Miguel giving him a good fight.
Tomorrow the skippers meeting is again at 10.00 and, unfortunately, the forecast for tomorrow is not good, south winds very very light, lets see what happens.
See you tomorrow for the day 3 of the event.