Good morning everyone and welcome to the opening day of racing here in Nieuwport. Unfortunately summer has deserted us and today we have grey skies and very little wind – even the famous wind socks sculpture at the entrance to the marina is drooping this morning!

There is a slight breeze here in the marina but not currently sufficient to sail. All fingers are crossed however and the competitors are none the less getting their boats ready to race and completing their final tweaks and tuning.

We will have an official competitors briefing at 12.00 in the regatta centre and the race officer hopes to be able to get racing underway at 14.00 as scheduled

Despite the weather everyone is in high spirits. Last night’s welcome reception rolled into a fun and somewhat raucous dinner in the yacht club and today much coffee is being drunk as everyone recovers.

Stand by for a further update after the briefing.