Mr Anthony LOCKETT, the Race Officer, briefed those concerned and decided to take the Committee Boat on the water before making his final decision. The waves inside St. Paul's Bay already started building and one squall after another brought strong winds and blinding rain sweeping across the bay.
At 10.00am Mr Lockett, a sailing authority with extensive experience at several high calibre events including the Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens, announced that the days racing would be postponed to another day and that the situation would be reviewed on the Sunday morning.
In order to keep the more than 100 children occupied the International Jury put together a number of Rules Seminars for the benefit of the foreign and local youngsters.
On Friday, the first official day of the Euromed, the weather was quite rough, WSW Force 5, but with a protected sea in St Paul's Bay. Although no official racing was scheduled it was the day when all foreign and local participants were expected to complete registration formalities. The Race Officer gave the 1st warning signal of the practice race exactly on time at 1255hrs when 87 Optimists and 23 Lasers competed for a good position on the starting line.
The 5th EUROMED Championship is organised by the Malta Young Sailors Club and is being sponsored by Air Malta, the Malta Tourism Authority, the Malta Maritime Authority, Medex Container Line, Merlin Computers and the Dolmen Hotel which is also the Event's Headquarters.