After yesterday’s excitement in Toulon, today was only going to be a bit of a let-down. There was the now traditional stop in the boat park instruction. It was the Open foilers to go on first, and many had their super high aspect ratio rigs already fully set up on their 9m tall carbon masts. There were instructions, under pain of death, that they must not pass through the entry gate onto the beach launching area unless they were fully ready to sail and dressed for the water. With 120 boats and a finite beach area, this was a very sensible policy from the Yacht Club du Toulon.

I’m sorry, but Epic can be an overused word. But that is possibly the only word we can use to describe the events on Toulon Bay yesterday. And to think, it all started so serenely too.

It was a tricky day out on the beautiful Rade Du Toulon yesterday, in day 3 of the A-Cat Worlds. At many events, regardless of how good the club or organisation is, the wind always has its own agenda. So it was in Toulon. Sailors waited around, lounging on trampolines, in campers and outside the café, all awaiting that squadron scramble bell when the red and white stripy flag was suddenly lowered and replaced with a fleets on the water flag.

Following the disappointment of Sunday, where the Open foiling fleet at the A-Class Catamaran Worlds had to sit out in the Bay Du Toulon, and then just get one upwind leg before being cancelled, today was a welcome change. A foilable 9-12 knot Southerly breeze started up at about lunchtime and all the Foilers took to the sea from the Yacht Club Du Toulon’s launching beach, heading out to the race area about a mile or so offshore.

Following a lovely champaign sailing week’s run up to a major championship, it’s obvious now, to anyone with any wind connection and recent experience, that the actual race week will inevitably be one where total near windless conditions shall inevitably prevail. There’s probably a law or something describing the phenomena. It’s like there’s only so much wind available, and if you’ve used it all up playing in it, then that’s your own fault.

After a great day today, both fleets got more races under their belts. For the full results visit - https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/Aclass#!/results?classId=Acat

The games commence! The event is now under event rules, so no swapping bits without approval, removing boats, or swapping parts out.

The SIs for the Toulon Worlds are here -

Michelangelo 'Lallo' Petrucci, founding partner of the Italian Class A and of the historic BiMare shipyard, until a few years ago the most important in the world for the construction of Class A, passed away on Friday 1 September. He was 82 years old.

Lallo Petrucci was very important for Italian sailing, both as a sailor and as a boatbuilder. For many things he was a volcanic, whimsical and inventive entrepreneur; the A-Class owes much to his work since the 1970s

His ashes will be scattered at sea according to his wishes.

It is important to note that all the documentation for the 2023 World Championships in Toulon are here - https://aclassworld2023-toulon.com/portfolio/documents/ and individual documents can be downloaded as .pdf files. It is suggested that you do this as soon as possible, in case the club wifi being occasionally be unreliable.