After two hours of changing forecasts, false starts, and printer ink spilled on three corrected schedules, Thursday's racing has been postponed due to thunderstorms until Friday, when races will be run on the identical schedule as today. As is often the case, the past two hours have been marked by rampant rumors, updates, and finger crossing; here's a bit of the flavor given that we don't have any racing to report.
As we added to the Thursday preview and mentioned on the main page, Warren Anderson was slated to substitute into the men's quad for Jamie Schroeder, who had come down with an illness on the day of racing. It is not determined at present whether Schroeder will be feeling well enough to race on Friday; either way, he could potentially return to the crew for any subsequent racing if given medical clearance.
One fairly serious complication of the cancellation is with respect to the lightweight races; all the events were weighed in today right on time for the original intended schedule, and this delay means they will all have to weigh in yet again tomorrow. For crews that went through the reps, that will be five weigh-ins this week, and three in the final four days of the regatta for everyone; it's almost like an NSR.
Away from the rowing course, among the better rumors was this one: all outdoor sports at the Games had been postponed. This may well have been the case for about 20', but I knew it didn't last when I could hear the cheers coming from the canoe/kayak slalom course across the way - they were definitely running races. It was a bit of a dodgy decision, it seemed to me; while they were still on the course, a massive boom rattled the tin roof of the rowing press center. Seconds later, the slalom racing was shut down.
Meanwhile, a row of photographers stood with their cameras pointed at the sky over the boatsheds, hoping to capture a lightning flash for posterity. All finally gave up the ghost without success, despite a couple near misses (myself included). Hopefully we won't have another opportunity to get that photo.
The oddest cancellation announcement of the day had to come from the sailing venue - while the rowing course was whipped by wind and rain, as you can see in the photo gallery, this notice arrived in my email from the sailing venue: "After a two-hour postponement, Finn and Yngling races have been cancelled Thursday due to lack of wind. This means Friday those classes will shoot for three races instead of the originally scheduled two."
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