A quick trip to the Olympic race course in Schinias (official pronounciation: skee-NYAS) confirms that things are just about ready to go; indeed, crews from Brazil, Argentina, and China are already doing laps between the brand new buoys. The first thing most folks will want to know: is it windy? For today, the answer was a definite "sorta," as a quarterting tail was kicking up the water a bit, but not more than a ruffle. The folks in the know here tell me it could go either way, no wind or lots of it; let's hope it's the former. The layout of the course puts the prevailing winds behind the crews, which means that the organizers are hoping for some worlds best times during the Games.
For comparision, I'd say today's water had about the same quality as Lake Lanier had during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, ie. not perfect, but also miles away from the apocalyptic scenarios some have envisioned. (Wonks in the audience can find the numbers, as well as FISA's weather contingency plan here)
A quick survey of the media shows that most national teams are not ready to go on hope alone regarding the wind, and have made provisions for some sort of gadget or another: splashguards, wing riggers, New Zealand's "pods,"and a host of other technical niceties. Whether or not these items will actually be deemed legal for use during the regatta is up to FISA; they'll inspect and rule on the individual legalities once the teams arrive.
In all, there's a palpable sense of relief about the rowing installations that the stars seemed aligned at this point, a week before the rowing begins, for a fair and fast regatta.
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