Lack of Rain Clears Up Bay for Racing in Rio -- On the Scene

(ATR) Sailors in Rio de Janeiro for an Olympic test event tell Around the Rings, the weather this week is a factor for seeing no objects in the bay.

"We were very lucky in the week the test event is being held," Martine Grael, a Brazilian sailor, told ATR.

"This week it is gorgeous and very clean. Just last week, there was really bad water."

Grael’s partner Kahena Kunze said to ATR that the weather this week has made the courses in Guanabara Bay "a pleasure to sail in."

Aside from the flow of sewage into the Marina da Gloria where sailors launch, objects floating in the waters of Guanabara Bay remain an issue for organizers and sailors. Currently, the state government employs "ecobarges" that patrol the water collecting objects floating in the bay. By the end of 2015, sewage will be diverted away from flowing into the bay to a treatment facility.

Malcolm Page, chief marketing officer at theInternational Sailing Federation, told ATR that teams participating in the test event have reported that the amount of objects floating in the bay "has improved out of sight."

"I was on the water yesterday. I saw no objects in the water, which is great," Page said.

"I would love to have some rain. That would be great to see. It’d be great to test [objects in the water after rain] especially when our sailors are here."

Currently, weather forecasts call for rain in the last few days of the test event, and it has been over 20 days since the city has seen any kind of rainstorm.

Page said that the ultimate goal of the test event is to make sure the field of play is "perfect" for the Olympics next year, and the event is being used to help finalize the racing times and schedule for the Games. Currently six courses are being tested, three inside the bay and three outside.

"Our window of opportunity is quite reduced for this venue. Winds don’t normally kick in until early afternoon, and with the sun down at 5:30, we need time for boats to get back to shore," Page said.

The limited window has affected racing for some of the classes, according to Giles Scott, a sailor from Great Britain. He told ATR that a lack of wind on some courses has halted some races, but the organization has been working tirelessly to as much in as possible.

"I think the racing is being done is fine, and I think all the right decisions are being made in terms of when we should race and shouldn’t race; they’ve had some difficult calls to make," Scott said.

"I haven’t seen anything in the bay. We haven’t had any rain in a long time. That may have something to do with it. Hopefully in the next few days weather will improve and we’ll get to racing."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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