With no wind to speak of, racing has ground to a temporary halt at Skandia Life Cowes Week.

According to the 24-hour log on www.ybw.com/weather (see picture) there were periods overnight of no wind at all, in terms of average speed. Whatever breeze there was owed its origins to the north with a touch of east and that is the way things have stayed.

The main salvation may come from an expected sea breeze as the sunshine heats the land to provoke a south-westerly that should overcome the flaccid prevailing puffs. That points towards first guns sometime over late lunchtime, although the afternoon may not prove straightforward either thanks to the threat of thundery showers and an unhelpful tide turn.

The week ahead may yet something of a record for unemotional weather as the benign area of low pressure continues to take up residence across much of northern Europe. A slow moving front is due on Wednesday with a secondary low developing on Thursday, but what ever competitors have to worry about this week, it is unlikely to be gear breakages the way things are working out.

Perhaps it’s time to take the fleet out and get all of the crews to whistle; nothing else looks likely to provide a decent wind much before mid week at the earliest.

For full British mainland weather and tide information click here