Day two at the Melges 24 Worlds in Hyeres brought a mix of conditions for the 119 crews with racing starting in 8-10 knots and finishing in 30 knots as the Mistral began to blow.
First thing this morning the wind in Hyeres dropped briefly allowing some of the boats to get out for a few hours practise, but this afternoon the Mistral is back and with winds gusting over 30 knots only the very brave have headed out of the marina to practise.
Overnight the Mistral came up in Hyeres and this morning crews at the 2006 Melges 24 World Championship awoke to glorious sunshine but gusty winds of up to 40 knots.
Sadly the second day of racing at the Hyeres Cup, the Melges 24 Pre-Worlds Regatta in Hyere, France, had to be cancelled due to strong Mistral winds, leaving the fleet with just yesterday's two races to count.
The 126 crews preparing for the Melges 24 Worlds in Hyeres are busy completing measurement and registration and getting some last minute practise in the warm up regatta.
Newport native Ken Read narrowly won the Melges 24 Gold Cup Regatta presented by Boston Meridian Merchant Banking. Read captured top honors on the final day of racing in spectacular Newport sailing conditions.
MOST URGENT - UPDATED 11.20AM ON 21 AUGUST - The following entrants in the forthcoming Melges 24 World Championship have not yet paid their class membership fees and are not listed on the class membership list on this web site.
From Nils Hauff of the Norwegian Class - The Norwegian Championship was sailed at Hank south of Oslo last weekend. 26 boats including three from Denmark, Sweden and Finland got 8 races during the three days. The sailing on Friday started in nice westerly breeze about 4 m/s.
From Denis Infante and the Worlds Organisers - As of today the COYCH has 124 entries for the 2006 Melges 24 World Championship which is just one short of the existing championship entry record set in La Rochelle in 2000.
