This year is simply different. We had been locked down at our homes for a long time and haven’t traveled much other than trips to local grocery stores. Luckily lock down restrictions got relaxed and the first ranking competition organized by HSS club could take place in Helsinki.
Finally the first racing day, Saturday, came and it was nice to see that quite many, above 30, windsurfers from different classes turned up.
There are two new classes starting this year, iQFoil Open and Formula Foil beside well known – Formula, Raceboard, RS: X, Slalom (wasn’t included in the regatta), Techno and Windsurfer classes.
Saturday morning rain stopped quite soon. Weather cleared up and we could start the first race shortly after 11 am as planned.
Raceboard, RS: X, Techno and Windsurfer classes had 4 races in moderate wind conditions (from 2 to 6 m/s). Foil class needed to wait for better wind conditions till late afternoon, which allowed some of the RS: X competitors to join Foil races too. After initial wind blast that surprised everybody, the wind got steady and Foil class was able to compete in 4 races.
Sunday was more in favour of sunbathing than windsurfing. After the first two races arranged for Foil and Raceboard wind dropped below enjoyable minimum (3 m/s) and some competitors from Foil class joined Windsurfer class to enjoy a beautiful day and have fun with classic windsurfing equipment.
After completing the 7th race in Raceboard, RS: X and Techno classes it was time to call it a day.
Official communication during the regatta was handled over the internet for safety reasons following recommended social distancing. It was quite easy to find out all the needed information at any point of time.
Overall, it was a well arranged regatta and a solid start of the season with lots of starts and different wind conditions.
Official results can be found at:XII Downtown Sailing Week manage2sail
photos by Pike Blinnikka