International regatta SOSW-e, with 70 yachtsmen from 11 countries in 4 classes, started with the 24 knot NE wind with occasional gusts of over 30 knots, resulting in two completed events.

Participants of the 9th international regatta for Olympic classes Split Olympic Sailing Week which is organised by sailing club Labud from Split, were greeted by less than an ideal weather forecast.
Strong NE wind welcomed 70 yachtsmen from 11 countries competing in four classes; Finn, laser standard, laser radial and 470. Competitors headed out to the sea around 12:30 to the regatta field towards Čiovo and class 470 was the first to start. However, yachtsmen did not have a pleasant time at sea with NE winds of up to 24 knots and gusts of over 30 knots at times along with cold rain.

In spite of all the difficulties, two events were successfully concluded even though some skippers withdrew from the event and returned to dry land early because they were unable to handle fight strong winds. Some of them ended up overboard, unplanned of course, like our veteran duo in class 470 Ivica Bonacin and Goran Urlić.
- The sea is warm! We just wanted to check the temperature – the guys, veteran world champions in 2011 and vice-champions in 2012, joked.

First windy and rainy battle was concluded by the skippers in class Finn.
- None of us tipped over and I am more than happy with my performance- said young Josip Olujić, a member of our host club who finished third and first and added:
- In the second event I took the lead and controlled it until the end.

Milan Vujasinović, member of SK Split that has only been sailing in Finn for about a month after years of competing in laser is also pleased with his performance. Milan, better known as Dugi (Long) was second in both events.
- Two second places in less than a month of training, who wouldn't be satisfied? I had solid speed but also had quite a few mistakes which is expected when going into a different class – said this skipper stating also that it is noticeable how the form is not up to the standard it should be.

That is not surprising considering that after a winter training period this is the first regatta and more or less a chance to check what was done during winter. Croatia's best Finn representative Ivan Kljaković-Gašpić sailed well but a malfunction on the boat threw him out of the second event.
– I lost the rudder, it happens, it's not a big deal – said Bambi who had the best result in the first event but had to drop out of the second event due to technical difficulties.
But Bambi was not overly satisfied , not everything is yet in place for the upcoming season and he is also busy studying for his final exam at the Faculty of Economics. But he will be back at sea tomorrow, the rudder is now fixed and new duels await.

Apart from Bambi who is always great at sea, girls from Zadar Enina Ninčević and Romana Župan from SK Uskok also had a great day leaving everyone but the Italian duo Simon Košuta Sivitz and Jaša Farnetti far behind.
As far as laser standard is concerned, our guest from Poland Kacper Zieminski took the lead in front of our own Tonči Stipanović from SK Mornar. Tina Mihelić from SK Labud also took the lead without any difficulties in laser radial.
New events will await the fleet tomorrow on the second day of SOSW, planned start is at 12:00 with hopes that the NE wind will not increase to hurricane speed.