What happens in Olympic sailing if there is no wind?

When it comes down to it, sailing requires three things: a boat, some water and some wind.

For those competitors bidding for Olympic medals in Marseille this summer, all will come equipped with a boat, and there will be no shortage of water in the Mediterranean Sea.

It is the third factor that is so often the unknown when it comes to a regatta.

What has happened at previous Games?

That has been the case on the Olympic stage. Three years ago in Enoshima, fleet races had to be postponed for a day when there was not enough race to complete the double-handed dinghy programme.

Go back to 2016 and the challenges for organisers were even greater. In Rio, the Laser and Laser Radial classes both had their medal races postponed on the same day, but for contrasting reasons.

After the Laser sailors had spent most of their day waiting for the wind to pick up, the decision was made to postpone their competition.

That left the Laser Radial class to give it a go, but just as it seemed that they might be able to compete where their male counterparts had been stymied, the wind picked up so much that it made it impossible for them to race.

So the correct amount of wind is crucial for Olympic sailing to take place. If the wind is not strong enough, then there is a chance that a day’s sailing will be pushed back, with time made up later in the regatta.

Of course, should that happen towards the end of the regatta, rescheduling becomes trickier. At the World Sailing Championships in The Hague last summer, some medal races were not completed due to a lack of wind, although not in any class where the gold medal was still in play.

What about the Marseille Marina?

As for the Marseille Marina, the conditions are particularly unpredictable. Where conditions in Tokyo were fairly reliable day-to-day, Marseille is the ultimate test for meteorologists on the teams.

The wind can come from any direction, the sailors will have to cope with high temperatures and even on days when the expectation is for high winds, the reality on the water may be different.

In that sense, Marseille could prove to be a regatta for all-rounders, but whatever happens, the strength of the wind, especially the Mistral, will be a major factor at Paris 2024.