The Irish duo, Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove, will once again take to the waters of Marseille this coming Friday, following the postponement of the Olympic men’s skiff medal race due to unpredictable wind conditions.
Wind conditions are a significant factor in sailing and can be a headache for both sailors and race officials worldwide as it can’t be controlled. Dickson and Waddilove, who are in the running for an Olympic medal, among others were understandably frustrated when the race had to be cancelled after unsuccessful attempts to commence it with minimal breeze.
Initial attempts to get the race underway were thwarted by insufficient winds. Several hours later, a second attempt was similarly unsuccessful. Despite a third attempt, this time at a different location in the Marseille bay, it became evidently too late to carry on with the race, thereby resulting in it being postponed to Friday.
Key questions arise from these situations, such as what is regarded as too little wind, the fickleness of wind conditions, and if these races under variable wind conditions are considered fair racing.
To carry out the 49er skiffs race, a bare minimum of five knots of wind – a fairly light breeze – is required. However, the issue lies in the fact that such minimal wind speed may easily dissipate rather than increase, which is the expected condition by both sailors and race officials.
For the medal final race attempts, they all complied with this five-knot minimum requirement, and officials patiently waited for it to sustain for at least five minutes before beginning the race countdown sequence.
This Saturday, there’s a predicted issue where wind speed might escalate to 28-30 knots or a Beaufort force 6. Such strong winds may prove to be too challenging for the fragile skiffs, but would in contrast be ideal conditions for Finn Lynch and his single-hander.
Besides wind speed, there’s also the aspect of wind direction associated with unpredictable wind conditions. The start of a race is significantly influenced by a specific wind direction which is ideally expected to remain stable, only varying by a few degrees.
The sport of sailing embraces regular wind direction changes as an accepted test of competitors’ abilities; the adept navigation of such changes can provide certain boats with a distinct edge over their rivals. Nonetheless, if the wind swings by 30 to 40 degrees or perhaps even more, such unpredictability can drastically reconfigure race standings, highlighting the considerable element of fortune in the sport.
When these drastic wind changes coincide with a dwindling breeze, it leads to some of the harshest sailing conditions possible, as was the case during the recent attempts at the medal race. Sailing, despite its sporadic nature, ensures an equal opportunity for all to experience its capriciousness.
However, when Olympic medals are on the line, there is an obligation on the part of organisers to maintain fundamental fairness and secure a fair conclusion to the competition. In line with this, choosing not to let the initial sailing medals for the 2024 Paris Olympics be dictated by a driftathon, the organisers prudently decided to postpone and retry on a more suitable day.