A decent south-easterly breeze and a wash-down are both on the menu for today’s sailing here at Skandia Cowes Week.

Both come courtesy of a deep 975mb depression south-west of Ireland. Having taken up station there the low isn’t due to go anywhere fast, trickling ever so slightly north and west and filling. That will leave a relatively inactive area across the Solent again tomorrow, if it comes to pass.

In the meantime competitors can at least look forward to some more predictable airs today. Depending on where you measure it the Solent has between 5-10 knots constant out of the south-east already with some momentary gusts above that. The weather is still looking bright but heavy cloud and showers are expected during the day ahead of an approaching front. The front will occlude and slow as it approaches the Isle of Wight tonight, so the worst of the weather is likely to be west of the racing but rain is still expected and a thunderstorm might not be out of the question, either of which could lead to some tricky sailing.

As for the rest of the week? One suspects the forecasters are not entirely sure how to read the fortune of what looks likely to become the resident low out to the west – it could well be a mixed week of light sea breeze racing with some predominantly southern gradient winds for later in the week, but few should make plans on that basis!