All weather forecast models are agreeing that the coming weekend is going to be very wet and windy at some stage in Ireland, with some suggesting that the unfavourable sailing conditions will persist through both Saturday and Sunday.

It's a busy weekend programme that's under threat, with the Helmsman's Championship at Cultra featuring a very interesting lineup of sailing stars. This Championship of Champions provides the pinnacle of a busy two or three days in which other centres are also hoping to stage major events for dinghies and keelboats.

The adverse weather is sweeping eastward over the North Atlantic across such a broad front that the continuing America's Cup series well south at Barcelona may even be affected. The volatile trend is being energised by the deep low pressure areas that are the decaying tropical storms which were formerly hurricanes like the destructive Helene, with "decaying" being only a very relative adjective.

However, despite the 2024 season's seemingly endless unsettled weather, Ireland's experienced race officers have shown that they are very skilled in carving a worthwhile programme out of apparently unfavourable conditions, and it would be very premature indeed to write off the weekend of October 5th-6th just yet.