Rough sea conditions along the Costa del Sol left the organisers of the opening round of the 2022 UIM Pleasure Navigation World Championship in Benalmádena, Spain with little option but to postpone today’s practice and Heat One until Sunday.

Although driving to the conditions might have been an option, the race organisers felt that the heavy sea swells would comprise any rescue attempt made by the safety crews if an incident occurred.

Two competitors did venture out to test the conditions, but they were not outside the marina wall for long before heading back ashore.

Xavier Derille and Jeroen Haverbeke from the Puma Racing Team went out but only did one lap of the course in their eight metre RiB.

The GPS failed to work so we have no real idea of the speed we reached but it felt like forty Kmph. We had put thirty kg’s in the nose but that wasn’t enough, but we couldn’t put any more in because there isn’t enough room.

The schedule for Sunday has been adapted to allow the race organisers the opportunity of holding a race either side of lunch. A forty-five-minute Free Practice will start at 09:30. Heat One will start at 11:00 and will consist of ten laps of the course. Then the eleven lap second heat will get underway at 14:00 followed by the prize giving at 17:00.