World Rowing Championships likely to be delayed

Boats will be stored in Gifu's permanent boat house

Teams are getting in their last bit of on-the-water training today in Gifu, Japan, the venue of the 2005 World Rowing Championships as plans are made for the approaching typhoon.

FISA's Events Director Svetla Otzetova said that at present it is very calm on the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course. ?Crews are training although there is still a current today and the water level is higher.?

The forecast for tomorrow, 24 August, is also relatively calm and it is expected that training will continue throughout the day in good conditions. ?The current will be reduced as the river gates will be closed tonight and will remain closed until the regatta finishes on 4 September,? says Otzetova.

The latest weather forecast shows that the typhoon has slowed and changed direction but the wind speed will begin to rise on Thursday, 25 August in the morning and increase through the next day reaching its peak on Friday 26 August. The maximum wind speed is predicted at 45 km/hour. The wind will then diminish on Saturday 27 August.

?We expect that it will not be possible to train on the water from the 25th to the 27th," says FISA's Executive Director Matt Smith.

On Wednesday teams will move their boats into the permanent boathouse and a nearby gym so training will then take place on ergs.

Reinstallation of the course will begin the evening of the 27th and go through the night,? says Otzetova. ?By 6am on the 29th the course will be back in place. Teams can train on the 28th, but outside of the racing course while the installation is happening.?

At this stage racing has been rescheduled to start on 30 August, two days later than the planned start date. This means that the original first four days of racing will be compressed into two days.

After the typhoon has left the wind speed is expected to be about 2 metres/second.

Currently the humidity in Gifu is high with temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius. There is no rain.

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