Extremely tricky first day of the UFO 22 European Championship and the Slovenian Fireball National Championship

Its been an extremely tricky first day of the UFO 22 European Championship and the Slovenian Fireball National Championship for 20 UFO 22 crews (17 from Italy, 2 from Germany and one from Austria) and 14 fireball crews (9 from Slovenia and 5 from Czech Republic; only 13 raced today). Both fleets shared the same starting line, but raced on the different courses. Although the starts were scheduled for around 1 pm, the race committee couldn’t set a racing field until almost an hour later due to very shifty and unstable wind. After the wind settled, the fireball fleet had a clear start of their first race. Following the fireballs, the UFO 22 fleet started with a clear start too, but unfortunately with less luck with the wind. A huge wind shift of about 40 degrees forced the race committee to cancel the race just before the first top mark. The fleet returned for their second attempt, with one ocs (ITA 3). The racing was once again interrupted, this time with heavy rain and lower visibility, but the wind picked up and offered the skilled sailors some challenging conditions. Hey, we’re racing for the European title here! smile emoticon In the meantime, the fireball fleet finished regularly their first race. Before the second start for both fleets the wind dropped and continued to shift rapidly, and the AP flag forced the sailors to wait for some better conditions. The rain stopped and the sky cleared, but the wind never picked up again. The race officer Bojan Gale called it a day just before 4 pm. The racing continues tomorrow, the first start is scheduled for 11 am, with skippers’ meeting at 9:30 am.

Official Results
UFO22 European Championship Race 1:
https://app.box.com/s/n682gwsss2ufhu8znljj1hgxtsrr18tf

Fireball Open National Championship Race 1:
https://app.box.com/s/jgjk48fseftiovbg40nin8wc6ucdovmx